Johannesburg - Stacey Leigh Whitwam has a list stuck up in her kitchen for emergencies. One, make tea. Two, have a bath. Three, look through folder of e-mails with positive feedback. Four, walk around the block. The list goes on, step-by-step until the last point: call your psychiatrist.
Whitwam has bipolar 1 and borderline personality disorder. Bipolar 1 is categorised by manic episodes of feeling elated and invincible, broken up by crashes into depression.
The personality disorder means Whitwam can be volatile, swinging quickly into dark moods. If she feels a change coming on, she needs to nip it in the bud, and working through this list helps her do that.
On Wednesday at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group Bipolar Awareness Day event, Whitwam, 26, was confident in her black suit jacket and skirt.
On a day-to-day basis, Whitwam is a highly functional member of society. She has an LLB and works as a financial adviser, seeing clients and addressing different projects.
But Whitwam’s illness has been a struggle. She has been admitted for psychiatric treatment five times. When she was still dependent on illegal drugs, her dealer had a key to her apartment. He’d cut her a line on her bedside table and leave the rest. Only then could she get up.
But Whitwam doesn’t hide her mental illness at work. For her boss, her personality is an asset, not a hindrance. “He hired me because of my personality… I found a place that accepts me,” says Whitwam.
Bipolar is the sixth leading cause of disability globally. A 2011 study by the UK mental health NGO Mind found that in that country, mental ill-health was costing employers an enormous R500bn a year.
Research has found that employees with bipolar take more sick days than other employees, but return to work successfully and function well in the workplace. There has been a trend towards encouraging employees to disclose their mental health status.
Organisations like the South African Depression & Anxiety Group (Sadag) are often called in to do training and talks.
* Theresa Taylor is a current recipient of the Pfizer Mental Health Journalism Fellowship.
The Star