Many individuals that live with major depressive disorder decide to pursue a career despite their sometimes debilitating illness. If you are interested in working, you should consider several things regarding your choice in employment. In order to increase the likelihood of success, it is imperative that you choose a job that best suits you and how your depression manifests.

Like many average people that we share the world with, people living with depression have good days and bad days. However, when you have depression, your bad brain day can turn into bad brain days, weeks, months, etc. Depending on the nature of your depression and depressive episodes (frequency, severity and length), it can sometimes feel impossible to manage your life in any area, much less a job. 

As of June of 2014, there were over 21 million living veterans in the United States according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. This figure, considering the population of the United States, certainly makes the occupation significant. The dynamics of war, and the soldiers that fight them, have some parallels to the dynamics of living with chronic mental illness while trying to manage a vocation.

More tips on keeping a job when you have depression? Yes. More. In the last article, I shared five tips for how to maintain a job with depression. Most of those tips centered around physiological wellness enhance performance on the job. This article will delve into five additional things you can do to keep a job when you have depression.

Have you ever experienced the joy of being offered an employment opportunity? We may make the statement, "I got the job!" with a happy tone and then say it again with an anxious tone. Why? Because we landed the job, but will we be able to maintain it? We know that depression can prevent people from functioning well enough to meet work demands. But take a look at these tips to maintain a job with depression to see how you can keep that employment.

Greetings! My name is Charity Barrett and I am eager to start posting in the Work and Depression or Bipolar blog. I am passionate about participating in things involving the mental health community because it is too often overlooked, underestimated and misunderstood and I struggle with depression myself.

If you have trouble working as many of us with bipolar disorder do, volunteering is a practical and purposeful way to contribute and expand on your personal assets. There are many ways and places to contribute and do and feel better.

Get rid of those old jeans that don't fit you. I know how difficult it can for bipolar individuals to let go of something that is comforting. You could recycle any clothing, like those jeans, you know the ones that you wear but can’t button the waist. Donate them, you will feel good in donating and also feel better in some new, well-fitting clothes, though as a bipolar individual, remember not too overboard on spending.

I have already laid out some ideas on procrastination. This time, I want to speak about delaying paperwork, especially invoicing for the self-employed and expense reports for those employed.

Could your desk use some decluttering? If so, you may share a personality trait with most procrastinators--putting off decisions. Breaking that procrastination habit means you are going to have to do a bit of digging, literally, to declutter your desk. This can be more difficult for those with bipolar than those without, but it can be done. Planning, practice and more practice is what it takes to declutter your desk and regain space in your bipolar mind.