Another person with Bipolar checking in. There is no freaking way in hell I would ever consider joining the military. Nor would I ever recommend it for someone else who even thinks they may have Bipolar.
Bipolar highs include such wonderful things as extreme irritability and delusions of grandeur. The latter isn’t all “I think I’m God” or “Hey I can fly” delusions. More like “I’m hot shit, I’m right, you’re wrong, do as I say NOW damnit, who the hell are you to tell me what to do” sorts of delusions. I’m a bitch on wheels. NOT a good mental place to be in when you’re having orders barked at you 24/7 or have to come together with your squad in a combat situation and the lives of your squad members are in jeopardy.
The lows can be even worse than the highs. Depressed doesn’t even begin to describe it. Suicidal ideation becomes a favorite pastime. I become totally 100% convinced that my family - scratch that - the entire world, would be much better off without me. It’s only through talking things through with my support system that I am able to snap out of it enough to realize that maybe suicide isn’t the best option after all. Imagine not only taking away all forms of a support system and adding in insane levels of stress (pun totally intended) plus easy instant access to a gun and you’re just asking for trouble.
In addition to being horribly depressed emotionally lows also can cause people to have very little energy. I have literally spent all day in bed on many occasions, way too exhausted to even consider getting up. Try having one of those days while in the military – not going to work well.
Your nephew desperately needs to go see a doctor NOW to get his life in order. And he needs to do this before placing himself in situations that make even relatively sane people doubt their sanity.
I’ve seen quite a few mental health discharges throughout my Navy career. If he gamed the system by not having a paper trail diagnosing his condition and got into the service he’ll be discovered soon enough. Most likely in boot camp or A-school (initial job training). Typically the stress sets in and the warning signs start flashing. Hyperness, sleepiness, problems with authority, general oddness or full-blown madness. (In boot camp I watched a guy break ranks and scurry up a ten foot tree like a monkey, screaming he was a Navy SEAL and the super kid from Akron, Ohio.)
The signs can be very small but they’re usually noticed quickly by the petty officers. When you’ve been in long enough you know when something doesn’t fit. The petty officer probably has no idea and doesn’t care about what’s wrong, but knows that something is wrong. Because he doesn’t want to taint the rest of the Sailors he’ll send the kid to medical and that’s that. The docs will catch on quick, the kid goes packing with another failure and the Navy sails on.
As far as special warfare programs go, it’s a pipe dream. If he was somehow in the Navy while properly medicated and diagnosed he would be disqualified during the dive physical. You simply cannot have those problems and go to BUDs. There’s no waivers for that. If he was taking medication without a prescription he would be sent to captain’s mast as soon as they found out. And they will. There’s no such thing as privacy for a junior Sailor. After mast he would be restricted, in treatment, and picking up trash on base until administratively discharged for making false statements on his enlistment or dive physical paperwork (most likely). No muss, no fuss, just bye-bye.
Something else has occured to me…if he does enlist, then when he’s discovered to be bipolar, and to have been covering it up, I’m pretty sure that he’d get a dishonorable discharge. They WILL discharge him, and having a dishonorable discharge is not a good thing.
Dishonorable discharges are virtually equivalent to a felony criminal conviction. They can only be given after conviction at a general court-martial for serious offenses (e.g., desertion, sexual assault, murder, etc.).
This offense would almost certainly not rise to that level, or even to the level of a Bad Conduct Discharge (the next most severe discharge).
However, this offense could easily result in an Other-than-Honorable discharge, or General discharge (in reverse order of severity).
I was actually fingering a handgun when I decided to walk to the recruiter’s office instead of messing up mom’s living room with my brains.
With all due respect to Stranger and Opal, the most balanced and best years of my life were the ones I spent as a soldier. I went through the linguist program, held a top secret clearance and was in charge of 3 other solders and several hundred $ worth of military intelligence gear. The structured life and pressure to perform actually eased my depressive symptoms because I was not relying in internal motivation. The self-loathing that was eating me up before made me that much more willing to give myself over to the control of others for a while. I did as I was told and I did my best. Recognition and success snowballed and made it a lot easier to work through depression. Mania manifested itself as enthusiasm, creativity and hard work. I was figuring out better ways to accomplish missions and inspiring my guys to excel.
Before and since those days I’ve had plenty of “Why go on, what does it matter?” moments. The thing is, in the army those two questions always had answers. As for how I got the clearance? That was easy–I told the truth about my past (apart from being suicidal) when I was being investigated, and I knew what the psych profilers wanted to hear.
I apologize if this has already been addressed, but my situation is a little different. I’m an attorney and want to join the Navy JAG. As part of the process of getting my law license I had to undergo a mental health evaluation even though I freely admitted that I had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I take a very low dose of oxycarbazapene and see a doctor once a year. Primarily the doctor visit is to make sure that I’m not having side effects. Over time, the doctor has actually lowered the dosage. I guess I’m wondering is, with these qualifiers, am I still considered unfit to serve as a lawyer in the Navy? Thank you. For the record I wouldn’t “hide” any of it. Also, if the doctor were to reverse his opinion and say that a bipolar diagnosis might have been premature would that have an effect?
Fuck, you can’t even become a commercial airline pilot if you are prescribed a daily dose of Zoloft.
I’ve been prescribed seroquel before for insomnia and I cannot fathom why this drug would be a drug of abuse. In addition to being ineffective for my insomnia, the unwanted side effects were myriad and traumatic (if I may be just a hair hyperbolic). Even on my small dose for insomnia (dosages of BPD and schizophrenia are much higher), the seroquel had turned me into a insatiable pig with the brain function of a stoned-for-the-first-time 83 year old grandma, with the energy levels that would make me envy that stoned gramms. :mad:
Zoloft would also disqualify you as a private pilot as well. Last I heard there was talk of a pilot program using Prozac, as a test, for non-commercial pilots, but I have no idea if that went forward or not.
Look, I get that it’s frustrating that someone can’t do something they badly want to do because of a condition that is in way their fault, but sometimes life is very unfair like that. Sometimes you can’t fix the problem.