polly: What jobs can my brother do who has schizoaffective disorder?
My brother has schizoaffective disorder and is heavily medicated. He lives in a board and care but still has a very sharp mind. What kind of jobs would be good for him?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Pearl L
any jobs as long as hes on meds, what i hate is having a coworker that wont take meds, and i feel like im in the psych ward everytime i go to work, at least your brother is on meds so he should be able to do whatever he wants
I have schizoaffective too and yeah i’m bright brainy etc, it makes little difference to my illness.
What you need to ask yourself is, how long can he keep up any activity for? Does he do chores for anybody else? Eg would he mow your lawn/wheatver? Could he promise to do this and do it well without taking ages and at the time he says he would? How is he with money?
Can he concentrate for long periods? Is he genuinely concentrating? I am on meds yet I find it hard to follow a lot of half hour TV programmes on a bad day. I have bad days every single week. And my mood fluctuates literally every day I can be manic one day, depressed the next. If he’s like this it really will probably cause problems (big ones) in a job.
I tend to come across as “OK” when Im not floridly psychotic so people assume I can do a hell of a lot more than I do do. I mean, I can’t even stomach a 90 minute group session. Last time I just ran out the door and nearly had a panic attack on the street. this is why I ask does he REALLY concentrate on things? Does he REALLY do things and do them properly? Is he OK around people he doesn’t know?
I’m in the UK where you’ll get sick benefit as standard, as well as all the benefits coming with it. Bear in mind when you owe the government money they’re not backward in coming forward. Likewise when your brother is sick he should get whatever money he’s due. I don’t know what country you’re in so I don’t know what it would be called. Don’t be ashamed about claiming.
It really depends how well your brother is and whether he’s going to be able to stick to commitments. I get floored by really basic stuff and stress makes me manic and/or I hear voices. If this doesn’t happen with him maybe he’ll be OK.
Sorry I can’t give a more positive answer. Remember this is a serious condition and it can be deceptive so make sure you know how well he truly is, not how good he just seems. If he’s truly OK then yeah a job would be great. Maybe volunteer work would be a better place to start.
Best of luck!
PS I forgot to add: you asked about jobs. The less stress the better and it needs to be something uncomplicated. Not necessarily something unskilled just something that doesn’t have your head buzzing when you come back from work, that probably wouldn’t be ideal (and I bet a psychiatrist would agree). I’d go for painter-decorator or plasterer, that’s what I’d do. Little chance of having a bad accident (from poor concentration) and few decisions to make. Stress really does not help me, if your brother’s the same he will definitely need a low-stress occupation.
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