(Provided by the CCER - Western Washington University)

How Does Mental Illness Affect Someone on the job? Or, "What kind of job should you find for someone with schizophrenia?"

•  As with all disabilities, mental illness is only one aspect of who the person is.

•  The impact of mental illness varies across people. Roughly speaking:

People with thought disorders (schizophrenia) have difficulty processing and interpreting information; hence may be challenged by distractibility, impaired judgment, delusion or hallucinations, inability to express emotion (flat affect). Some may experience the same kind of learning difficulties and need the same kinds of support as people with mental retardation.

People with mood disorders (depression, bipolar disorder) may not have difficulty learning and working while in a period of stability, but may experience mood swings that cause variability in performance.

• People with mental illness who are served in vocational programs are in general those who are more severely impacted by their illness.

• Other influences can have an impact that rivals that of the disability itself:

Stigma: mental illness is a stigmatizing and poorly understood disability. Of the 39 various disability groups, mental illness is listed last in terms of public acceptance.

Long Term Unemployment: In our society, social status is largely determined by occupational achievement. Employment not only provides an individual with income and a standard of living, but time structuring, social interaction, personal esteem, personal identity and status.

Poverty and the Fear of Losing Benefits: It does not take much income to make people ineligible for public benefit programs such as Medical Assistance, Social Security, Section 8 Housing, Food Stamps, etc. People with mental illness often live in poverty, and are expected to negotiate a maze of regulations in order to survive.

Lack of Education: Many people with mental illness become ill during their late teens and early twenties, when others are trying vocational options and clarifying career goals. When the illness is stable and work is on the horizon, a lack of formal or vocational educational accomplishments is often an added handicap.

• The Bottom Line: Start with the Individual, Not the Label!!