Hello bipolarstories: I'm sorry you have had this experience. I will just mention here that back when I was still working I was a vocational rehabilitation counselor. So your Thread is to some extent up my alley, so to speak. I can't speak to the question of how people deal with being unemployed while bipolar. But in terms of starting over vocationally speaking, I would like to suggest to you that employers prefer to hire people who are already working.

I don't know what type of work you did. But you mentioned professional references. So I'll assume it was some type of professional position. My thinking is that, first of all, you should find a job... any job... full or part time, as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the more difficult this is going to get. Then work at that job for a period of time in order to build up some current positive work history. Then you can begin to once again pursue positions more similar to what you have done in the past. At that point, you will be able to explain what happened at your last job. But you will also be able to credibly point to the fact that you have "turned over a new leaf" so to speak. There are job seeking skills techniques one can learn regarding how to do this effectively. And, at some point, you might want to consider trying to find a vocational counselor, & perhaps a job seeking skills class, where you can learn these techniques. There are, of course, also books available one can read.

The other possibility here would be to get involved in doing some sort of volunteer work... hopefully as many hours per week as possible. You'd want this to simulate a real employment situation as closely as possible. Here again, you're trying to establish new references & build up some credible evidence that you have now resolved the issues you had previously & are now prepared to return successfully to employment. And besides that, as a volunteer you would be contributing positively to your community, making new acquaintances, & building up potential references. Also, being of help to others is pretty-much an accepted way of mitigating the symptoms of depression.

I hope that something I have written here will be of benefit to you. I wish you great success with your efforts to recover you professional life.