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The Low GPA Curse, or do I just suck?


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I can totally identify with this thread.

 

I had issues to deal with in second year, and dammit my GPA took a hit. I learned, I tried to move on, but it's hard to climb out of it.

 

Study habits was another problem. Back in high school (or even in first year), it was next to nonexistent, because I have never really needed to study badly to pull the grades. You were almost guaranteed a good mark; now throw in a little bit of work, and you would get an even better mark.

 

Third year came; I switched majors. Started to really buckle up and study. I finally got the hang of writing multiple choice tests. (what you need to do is to read ALL your notes again and again until you know the material like the back of your hand. Sounds straight forward, but it works. Every time you read you don't need to make sure you know everything, especially during the first few times).

 

True to spirit, I did well. .... except for one class where I got a C+ (class average was a D+. What can I say?). That effectively pulled my third year marks down again. It's like the ZERO SUM GAME. It was very discouraging.

 

Fourth year came around. Studied as hard as I could/can. Pulled A's for everything -- that is, until the exams. Exams came and they slaughtered everyone because they felt the average was too high. Again, my GPA has gone nowhere. I am more discouraged than ever.

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If you are working hard there is no reason that you should not be doing well. Grades have almost nothing to do with intellect, it's all hard work. If you already have that down then it likely a flaw in your study methods or exam taking.

 

First of all, I think doing well on tests is a bit of an art. This is because in science courses you are forced to look over vast quantities of material of which the majority will never be tested. You need to gain a feel for what will be asked and what is excess material. If you throw out most of the useless stuff, your job is that much easier.

 

Secondly, the material you do need to know, you need to know it cold. I personally believe the easiest way of making sure you know the material and reforcing it in your mind is to either imagine yourself explaining a concept to someone (in-depth) or literally explaining it to others. The moment you are able to teach course material accurately is the moment you have essentially guaranteed yourself a 90+. If you have hesitations while explaining then you probably will have hesitations during test time. If you have memorized the material thoroughly then you should be popping A+ grades. After all, people in your classes are probably scoring these high grades and you have access to roughly the same material.

 

On a related note, get a hold of previous exams. They are around, they always are. It's just that a specific bubble of premeds usually has them and they don't leak out until the last few days. These are critical. There is no way I would have scored A's in my orgo courses were it not for the previous exams. It's not so much that they give you a representation of what to expect, but rather they reinforce the key points you need to know for the exam.

 

Lastly, while this may sound a bit new-age'y, I think being confident is extremely important. If you tell yourself that you are going to get an 85, well that's probably the plateau you've set for yourself. If you work hard with an internal expectation of scoring a 100, well I think an individual's work habits, study patterns and overall awareness of the exam change to reflect such an expectation.

 

Also, don't use tunnel vision. Not entering medical school after undergrad is not a big deal, you can have a roughly fresh slate by doing a masters. Remember, you have options if you originally plans do not work out.

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I agree with Joichi.....depression is rampant in my family (grandmothers, uncle killed himself, other uncle tried, cousin has it and is bipolar, and my mom has it) and I've been trying to tough it out on my own and act "normal" so i don't scare my mom that i've too, fallen prey to it. However lately I have been contemplating seeing a psych and maybe getting some meds, because I mean, if it'll help me feel like my normal self, then why not? What do you have to lose but a lot to gain? My friend is on meds and it has worked WONDERS for her, so sometimes, even if it still has a bit of a stigma, if you've got to do it, then you've got to do it (even though i'm still deciding...... :P maybe i should follow my own advice!!!) i find that it comes and goes with me, like a 4 year cycle, so one year every 4 i seem to be very depressed and i guess that's why im just hoping it'll "leave". But yeah, I do urge you to talk to people. I have a SUPER EXTREMELY supportive boyfriend and without him, I know I would be in a much worse situation. Keep it strong! :) :)

 

Haha, perhaps we are related, I have something similar going on, but not so intense. So because of that there's kind of a stigma against me even seeing a psychiatrist, let alone going on medication. But that's great for your friend that it helped her so much! From what I've seen of depression meds in action, they don't have much effect, but I guess there are a lot of other factors going on.

 

Thanks for your help, and congrats on your super extremely supportive boyfriend! Maybe all I need is a super extremely supportive counselor. ;)

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Alright, I'm the same as you. I need to get my sleep!

My tips, I do this and kind of find it helpful (it depends on the course). A course that is heavy on memorization, I usually review a lecture ONCE... trying to understand the MAIN concept. I do additional readings if I am not understanding a concept. When I go through it once, I make sure I fully understand exactly what is going on. Following that, I'll proceed to the next lecture, and try to fully understand the material. Once I've gone through a few lectures, I go back and start testing myself to make sure I'm memorizing things.

 

The thing is, you are going to be shuffling work throughout the semester (as exams approach, you need to prioritize). Make yourself a schedule (approximate) to let you see what needs to get done, and set some estimated guidelines for when you think you can get things done by. When midterms are coming up, realize that you are going to be studying for particular courses, so you will fall a bit behind in other topics... make sure you make time to catch up.

 

Labs, assignments, definitely take a lot of time... but another good idea is to go over things after class. If you have a break between class, use that break to do some of the readings. Make sure you make time for yourself to relax too! Just try to plan what has to get done, and start taking it on. If you feel you're falling behind, work really hard throughout the week to catch up as much as possible.. then spend the weekend trying to catch up.

 

For me, I need to do work NONSTOP to be efficient. I hate starting work for an hour, then going to do something else... so I usually do smaller tasks during my short breaks between class... then bring out the heavy artillery later in the day. ANNNNNNND if you're really really tired, just take a break! :P No reason to kill yourself. :)

 

Thanks for all the awesome tips! I'm definitely going to keep all of this in mind...maybe I'll bookmark this thread, too, so I don't forget and go back to my old, inefficient ways. :D

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I can totally identify with this thread.

 

I had issues to deal with in second year, and dammit my GPA took a hit. I learned, I tried to move on, but it's hard to climb out of it.

 

Study habits was another problem. Back in high school (or even in first year), it was next to nonexistent, because I have never really needed to study badly to pull the grades. You were almost guaranteed a good mark; now throw in a little bit of work, and you would get an even better mark.

 

Third year came; I switched majors. Started to really buckle up and study. I finally got the hang of writing multiple choice tests. (what you need to do is to read ALL your notes again and again until you know the material like the back of your hand. Sounds straight forward, but it works. Every time you read you don't need to make sure you know everything, especially during the first few times).

 

True to spirit, I did well. .... except for one class where I got a C+ (class average was a D+. What can I say?). That effectively pulled my third year marks down again. It's like the ZERO SUM GAME. It was very discouraging.

 

Fourth year came around. Studied as hard as I could/can. Pulled A's for everything -- that is, until the exams. Exams came and they slaughtered everyone because they felt the average was too high. Again, my GPA has gone nowhere. I am more discouraged than ever.

 

Yup, I can totally relate to you on the high school study habits. I could skim over notes/readings the morning of a test and do great. I was a procrastinator supreme, and I really regret it now, because if I'd been a super keener and aimed for 99-100's instead of 85-90's, and actually had to put in a little more effort to get the grades I wanted, maybe I wouldn't have such awful study habits now.

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your gpa troubles. It's so unfair how that happens, just the stupidest things get in the way when you were so prepared and you put in all the effort and everything. Don't be discouraged though! I like how THX said above,

 

"Also, don't use tunnel vision. Not entering medical school after undergrad is not a big deal, you can have a roughly fresh slate by doing a masters. Remember, you have options if you originally plans do not work out."

 

I really hope it works out for you!:)

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If you are working hard there is no reason that you should not be doing well. Grades have almost nothing to do with intellect, it's all hard work. If you already have that down then it likely a flaw in your study methods or exam taking.

 

First of all, I think doing well on tests is a bit of an art. This is because in science courses you are forced to look over vast quantities of material of which the majority will never be tested. You need to gain a feel for what will be asked and what is excess material. If you throw out most of the useless stuff, your job is that much easier.

 

Secondly, the material you do need to know, you need to know it cold. I personally believe the easiest way of making sure you know the material and reforcing it in your mind is to either imagine yourself explaining a concept to someone (in-depth) or literally explaining it to others. The moment you are able to teach course material accurately is the moment you have essentially guaranteed yourself a 90+. If you have hesitations while explaining then you probably will have hesitations during test time. If you have memorized the material thoroughly then you should be popping A+ grades. After all, people in your classes are probably scoring these high grades and you have access to roughly the same material.

 

On a related note, get a hold of previous exams. They are around, they always are. It's just that a specific bubble of premeds usually has them and they don't leak out until the last few days. These are critical. There is no way I would have scored A's in my orgo courses were it not for the previous exams. It's not so much that they give you a representation of what to expect, but rather they reinforce the key points you need to know for the exam.

 

Lastly, while this may sound a bit new-age'y, I think being confident is extremely important. If you tell yourself that you are going to get an 85, well that's probably the plateau you've set for yourself. If you work hard with an internal expectation of scoring a 100, well I think an individual's work habits, study patterns and overall awareness of the exam change to reflect such an expectation.

 

Also, don't use tunnel vision. Not entering medical school after undergrad is not a big deal, you can have a roughly fresh slate by doing a masters. Remember, you have options if you originally plans do not work out.

 

I agree with the 'grades have nothing to do with intellect', I am unfortunate enough to encounter this phenomenon in university on a highly regular basis. Ha, and yet it never ceases to surprise and frustrate me.

 

Previous exams definitely help a ton, I swear I passed O-Chem just based on the practise exams I'd done. For most courses they help a lot, but for O-Chem I did practise exam after practise exam, and I did pretty well on them, so I thought I was quite ready for the exam, but nada. I don't know how to explain that, except maybe I have test anxiety. Which is where the confidence part comes in, of course! :cool: I'll have to work on that for sure.

 

Thanks for all your advice, I'm definitely going to take a hard look at my study methods/exam-taking strategies, they clearly need major work. Thanks!:)

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Thanks for the advice. I'm seriously considering seeing a counselor now, I never thought it would do me any good before, but maybe you're right.

 

I hope this isn't too personal to ask, but what helped you overcome your depression so quickly? Was it counselling or medication, or both? I've always been afraid to go see a counselor in case they did diagnose me with depression or something and put me on medication. I'm really not open to going on medication at all. Still, maybe counselling in itself will help.

For me it was an issue of extreme exhaustion all the time, loss of interest in everything, slowed reaction time (I felt too exhausted to hit the brakes when driving), and loss of concentration - it would take me up to 1/2 an hour to read a sentence entirely from start to end and understand everything. So, I figured that something was wrong with me physically. I wasn't experiencing severe stress or anxiety at the time, and I had a good network of friends, so I knew that "talking it out" wasn't what was gonna help me. I was wary of medication as well, mostly because I was afraid that it'd change my personality or just cause me to behave strange. However, I knew that it was going to take some sort of intervention on a physical level to improve the way I felt. I went to see the shrink on campus to ask for a prescription, but at my school we had to see a counselor first, and then she had the authority to refer you to a shrink if she deemed necessary. I had a 15-min talk with her and she's like "Yes, you're right, you're depressed, and I agree that medication is the best remedy for you now." She referred me to the psychiatrist (very old school....bow tie, round glasses, and all :P ), who quickly agreed with me as well, and prescribed me fluoxetine (generic Prozac). He said that Prozac is the one most widely used to treat depression with symptoms of exhaustion and apathy.

 

Anyway, he just put me on a low dose...I wasn't too thrilled reading all the labels about how it can "potentially cause the patient to commit suicide" and whatever, but luckily, I didn't experience any side effects along those lines. He warned me that it takes a minimum of 2 weeks to notice any results and up to 2 months for the medication to take full effect. I didn't notice anything the first 10 days or so, though I did have an occasional bout of nausea, especially at night (even though I took the pills in the AM, as recommended). I remember barfing at least once, lol.:rolleyes: Anyway, after 2 weeks or so I started noticing more energy and a renewal of interest in life (basic things, like enjoying playing with my cats, enjoying food, etc). Even though I started feeling better, I was very cautious in terms of not overworking myself - I worked out a bit, but I wasn't pushing myself, and I spoke to my professors about my condition and was allowed to miss class without penalty. Of course, in a way it made things a bit harder since I had to do more studying on my own, but simply sleeping a bit more and not commuting was doing wonders to my health.

 

I would say it took about 3-4 weeks for me to feel the same way I did before I became depressed (which by the way was triggered by an awful study abroad experience). In addition, I noticed further improvement. I became more social than usual and more active in extracurriculars and such. I even took on several leadership roles which was very uncharacteristic of me. Overall, I suspect that I was chronically depressed for a few years (quite possible, I have mental illness running in my family, and suffered from bulimia in high school), since the medication actually improved my condition beyond what it was before the diagnosis. The stress must've just triggered an acute "outbreak," if you will. "Outbreak of depression," that sounds funny.:P

 

I was on meds for about 6 months after which I weaned off as per the shrink's recommendations.

 

I didn't see a counselor during any of that time, because as I said, I've always been fairly well in touch with my emotions and I also had friends who I felt comfortable talking to. I spoke to my family about it a bit, but I've never been super-close to them, especially my father, so I didn't feel too comfortable opening up. My father sent me money (highly recommend this as a remedy :cool: ) and my mother kept saying that all I need to do is just eat better. Now, I agree that a healthy active lifestyle does a very good job of preventing blahs, and as stated above, I have always used exercise to make myself feel better whenever I felt down for a few days, but this time the blahs were chronic as opposed to incidental.

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Haha, perhaps we are related, I have something similar going on, but not so intense. So because of that there's kind of a stigma against me even seeing a psychiatrist, let alone going on medication. But that's great for your friend that it helped her so much! From what I've seen of depression meds in action, they don't have much effect, but I guess there are a lot of other factors going on.

Personally, I was also concerned about the stigma....the fact that my grandmother had spent a few years in a mental institution and that it looked exactly like an episode near the end of the "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" wasn't helping either (she wasn't depressed though....she is schizophrenic, so they had her subdued with meds constantly to the point of being pretty much a vegetable). So I wasn't too eager by any means. However, I recalled some acquaintances who I knew to be on meds (whether through mutual friends or their personal admission to me), and none of them struck me as disordered freaks, so I figured, how bad can it be.

 

 

I actually WANTED to admit to people that I was having problems and that I needed help. In a way, I NEEDED to, at least to my professors, because I didn't want them to think I was not coming to class or permanently "in the zone" because I was lazy or on drugs or something. I received a very positive response from all my profs. However, I also felt that I had to tell my close friends, mainly due to side effects. Since as I mentioned earlier, meds can cause you to become suicidal, I needed people who were close to me to know that I could be at risk, so that people would regularly check on me if they didn't see or talk to me for a few days. Also, I wanted people to be aware that if I act strange, they would know that it's because of meds and not because I hate them or something, and also so that they'd let ME know in case I wasn't aware. Luckily, I didn't experience anything abnormal.

 

Overall, I'd say you'd be surprised by how open people generally are to this. Something like 25% of North Americans are or have been on medication for mental illness or depression at some point, so this is by no means rare. Some people talk about in the open frequently (like the acquaintances I mentioned before, or well, me right now :D ), while others generally keep it on the downlow. I've only crossed one person who acted like an idiot, and not surprisingly, it was the campus nurse. I had to see the fat bastard before I saw a counselor, and he was all like "Well, your throat and ears are fine, you look pretty healthy, what's your problem? Oh that's right, it's middle of the semester, midterms are coming up, and you just want an excuse not to study!" He actually drove me to tears (I'm not particularly teary-eyed normally)....I reported him to the dean and she spoke to me, and then to him about this. But other than the dumb moron, I didn't experience any negative treatment from people. People who experienced depression or other mental issues themselves were pretty open to discussing their experiences, while people who haven't were generally polite and reasonably supportive without trying to question me or interfere. If a person acts like an ass, you just have to remember that it's because they are ignorant and unable to relate to others, so it's THEIR, not your problem.

 

So, the stigma is actually not as great as you think. I mean, as you can see, I have no problem talking about it in public. I also would have no problem discussing it in my med interview if this happens to be relevant to a question.

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Hey, I have a few comments about going on medication for depression. Yes, it might help, but do realize that there are very, very good benefits to psychotherapy (ie. counselling) and often those benefits are as good or better than medication (depending on the individual). So if you do not want to go on medication, that doesn't mean you'll have to "just deal with" your problem. You can definitely still get help and get better. Also, even if you are on medication, going through counselling can help.

 

I think depression is very very common in our society and very common among university students. It's not really a surprise. You're under a lot of stress, the environment is highly competitive, you feel isolated (maybe away from home and "independent" for the first time), and you have a very difficult courseload and extracurricular/work committments. You're also worried about the future - the constant uncertainty of whether you'll get into med school (or whatever else your dreams might be). Most of us also have financial concerns ("How am I going to pay back those student loans?"). I think you need to realize this and be kind to yourself. It's NORMAL for you to feel down sometimes and it's OKAY to ask for help to overcome your difficulties.

 

I have a few pet peeves about counsellors though. Some are great. But some are really annoying. I, personally, hate the ones that condescendingly nod and smile at everything you say and every once in a while inject a, "that's very right, dear...so how do you FEEL about that?". Hello! I might have personal problems and I might be stressed out, but I'm not stupid! If after a couple of sessions, you don't feel like you click with your counsellor, try to get a different person. Personality issues make a big difference in things like this.

 

About the cost of medication: most universities make student get a health plan. It might cover some or all of the cost.

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I've only crossed one person who acted like an idiot, and not surprisingly, it was the campus nurse. I had to see the fat bastard before I saw a counselor, and he was all like "Well, your throat and ears are fine, you look pretty healthy, what's your problem? Oh that's right, it's middle of the semester, midterms are coming up, and you just want an excuse not to study!" He actually drove me to tears (I'm not particularly teary-eyed normally)....I reported him to the dean and she spoke to me, and then to him about this.

 

Hey, I think it's probably true that there is an influx of of students getting help at midterm/finals time. But I don't think it's because they don't want to study - I mean, all a deferral means is that you have to re-write it later when you have more work to do. In my opinion, the reason for this influx is two-fold:

 

(1) Students who are depressed don't go get help until they realize they just can't cope (which is usually around midterm/final time). It's hard to have the motivation to go get help, when you don't even have the motivation to eat and go to class.

 

(2) Due to stress, midterm/final time spurs students who might have minor depression to become more severely depressed.

 

If you have a problem, try to go as soon as possible. Not just because you don't want the problem to accumulate, but also because the university health services get taxed a little bit more later in the term.

 

P.S. Good for you Jochi for reporting the guy! I think you did a lot of students a service.

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I think depression is very very common in our society and very common among university students. It's not really a surprise. You're under a lot of stress, the environment is highly competitive, you feel isolated (maybe away from home and "independent" for the first time), and you have a very difficult courseload and extracurricular/work committments. You're also worried about the future - the constant uncertainty of whether you'll get into med school (or whatever else your dreams might be). Most of us also have financial concerns ("How am I going to pay back those student loans?"). I think you need to realize this and be kind to yourself. It's NORMAL for you to feel down sometimes and it's OKAY to ask for help to overcome your difficulties.

 

Yeah, you're so right smurfette. Sometimes school gets so stressful, and you just don't know who to deal with... and I'm lucky to have good friends who listen to me. I try to talk things out and my friends give me a lot of support (as does my family).

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For me it was an issue of extreme exhaustion all the time, loss of interest in everything, slowed reaction time (I felt too exhausted to hit the brakes when driving), and loss of concentration - it would take me up to 1/2 an hour to read a sentence entirely from start to end and understand everything. So, I figured that something was wrong with me physically. I wasn't experiencing severe stress or anxiety at the time, and I had a good network of friends, so I knew that "talking it out" wasn't what was gonna help me. I was wary of medication as well, mostly because I was afraid that it'd change my personality or just cause me to behave strange. However, I knew that it was going to take some sort of intervention on a physical level to improve the way I felt. I went to see the shrink on campus to ask for a prescription, but at my school we had to see a counselor first, and then she had the authority to refer you to a shrink if she deemed necessary. I had a 15-min talk with her and she's like "Yes, you're right, you're depressed, and I agree that medication is the best remedy for you now." She referred me to the psychiatrist (very old school....bow tie, round glasses, and all :P ), who quickly agreed with me as well, and prescribed me fluoxetine (generic Prozac). He said that Prozac is the one most widely used to treat depression with symptoms of exhaustion and apathy.

 

Anyway, he just put me on a low dose...I wasn't too thrilled reading all the labels about how it can "potentially cause the patient to commit suicide" and whatever, but luckily, I didn't experience any side effects along those lines. He warned me that it takes a minimum of 2 weeks to notice any results and up to 2 months for the medication to take full effect. I didn't notice anything the first 10 days or so, though I did have an occasional bout of nausea, especially at night (even though I took the pills in the AM, as recommended). I remember barfing at least once, lol. Anyway, after 2 weeks or so I started noticing more energy and a renewal of interest in life (basic things, like enjoying playing with my cats, enjoying food, etc). Even though I started feeling better, I was very cautious in terms of not overworking myself - I worked out a bit, but I wasn't pushing myself, and I spoke to my professors about my condition and was allowed to miss class without penalty. Of course, in a way it made things a bit harder since I had to do more studying on my own, but simply sleeping a bit more and not commuting was doing wonders to my health.

 

I would say it took about 3-4 weeks for me to feel the same way I did before I became depressed (which by the way was triggered by an awful study abroad experience). In addition, I noticed further improvement. I became more social than usual and more active in extracurriculars and such. I even took on several leadership roles which was very uncharacteristic of me. Overall, I suspect that I was chronically depressed for a few years (quite possible, I have mental illness running in my family, and suffered from bulimia in high school), since the medication actually improved my condition beyond what it was before the diagnosis. The stress must've just triggered an acute "outbreak," if you will. "Outbreak of depression," that sounds funny.:P

 

I was on meds for about 6 months after which I weaned off as per the shrink's recommendations.

 

I didn't see a counselor during any of that time, because as I said, I've always been fairly well in touch with my emotions and I also had friends who I felt comfortable talking to. I spoke to my family about it a bit, but I've never been super-close to them, especially my father, so I didn't feel too comfortable opening up. My father sent me money (highly recommend this as a remedy ) and my mother kept saying that all I need to do is just eat better. Now, I agree that a healthy active lifestyle does a very good job of preventing blahs, and as stated above, I have always used exercise to make myself feel better whenever I felt down for a few days, but this time the blahs were chronic as opposed to incidental.

 

Wow, I'm so glad it worked out for you so well. Thanks so much for sharing all this, I relate to all your symptoms so much that it makes me think I've being avoidant/in denial for not trying to do anything about it. I was diagnosed with depression by a counselor 2 years back when just about the same thing was happening to me, but I refused to see a psychiatrist/go on meds like I was recommended to. I figured I would take care of it on my own. And I did, for a little while. The threat of seeing a shrink if I didn't shape up was enough to whip me into shape :cool: , but it sure didn't last long.

 

I'm sorry about your campus nurse experience. I had a really similar experience when I was diagnosed, I went to see my family doctor first because I was so sure it was something physically wrong, I just didn't feel like myself. And my mother mentioned to him that I was showing signs of depression (she's an MD herself), and he turns around and looks at me like I'm a complete psycho: "HA! So, what, you want to kill yourself or something??" It just shocked me that he made light of something so serious and made me feel like I WAS a psycho instead of trying to help me. After that I just denied everything and said I was fine and got the hell out of there. Hahaha, come to think of it, he's one of the reasons I wanted to become a doctor in the first place, to show him how it's done. Definitely not like that.

 

Thanks again for everything, I'm going to go take care of this now for sure. As well as work on my studying strategies, of course. ;)

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I have a few pet peeves about counsellors though. Some are great. But some are really annoying. I, personally, hate the ones that condescendingly nod and smile at everything you say and every once in a while inject a, "that's very right, dear...so how do you FEEL about that?". Hello! I might have personal problems and I might be stressed out, but I'm not stupid! If after a couple of sessions, you don't feel like you click with your counsellor, try to get a different person. Personality issues make a big difference in things like this.

Yeah, my bulimia counselor was a tool...I didn't choose him, the school made me see him in particular because he had graduated from their school 40 years prior.:rolleyes: I got really sick of him and lied to him that I had gotten tons better (I had improved a bit, but not fully), just so I wouldn't see him anymore....his response was "oh, good to know you're not doing those stupid things anymore."

 

:rolleyes:

 

Need I mention I was the first person with an eating disorder he had ever "counseled"? His "counseling" consisted mainly of telling me how I didn't need to lose weight (even though as many bulimics are, I WAS overweight).:rolleyes:

 

Sometimes, you have to look farther if the person you're with now doesn't make you feel comfortable. A good counselor would've been like "I have never treated eating disorders, so I will be consulting my colleague who's more knowledgeable in this matter, and if you find that it's not working for you, I'll refer you to someone else" instead of taking pride in his ignorance of the issue.

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I'm sorry about your campus nurse experience. I had a really similar experience when I was diagnosed, I went to see my family doctor first because I was so sure it was something physically wrong, I just didn't feel like myself. And my mother mentioned to him that I was showing signs of depression (she's an MD herself), and he turns around and looks at me like I'm a complete psycho: "HA! So, what, you want to kill yourself or something??" It just shocked me that he made light of something so serious and made me feel like I WAS a psycho instead of trying to help me. After that I just denied everything and said I was fine and got the hell out of there. Hahaha, come to think of it, he's one of the reasons I wanted to become a doctor in the first place, to show him how it's done. Definitely not like that.

 

That's horrible! I hope you found a different family doctor. It's horrible that people (even those in the health profession!) can be so insensitive and tactless. It's not your fault that you're sick - and it's his/her job to help you get better. What if you had actually had suicidal thoughts? When someone's depressed, they're already feeling low, it doesn't help to insult them. It's like hitting a child with a scraped knee - how's that going to help?

 

I think there's a lot more information and understanding about depression in the last couple of years. Also, universities are starting to invest in training doctors/nurses/counsellors to help students with depression, especially since this is becoming an increasing problem and there have been a few unfortunate cases of student suicide. The stigma and the lack of understanding is starting to fade.

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That's horrible! I hope you found a different family doctor. It's horrible that people (even those in the health profession!) can be so insensitive and tactless. It's not your fault that you're sick - and it's his/her job to help you get better. What if you had actually had suicidal thoughts? When someone's depressed, they're already feeling low, it doesn't help to insult them. It's like hitting a child with a scraped knee - how's that going to help?

 

I know, that really angers me. How could someone be so insensitive?!

Honestly, that's kind of sickening... how could you say that to someone coming to you for help?

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That's horrible! I hope you found a different family doctor. It's horrible that people (even those in the health profession!) can be so insensitive and tactless. It's not your fault that you're sick - and it's his/her job to help you get better. What if you had actually had suicidal thoughts? When someone's depressed, they're already feeling low, it doesn't help to insult them. It's like hitting a child with a scraped knee - how's that going to help?

 

I think there's a lot more information and understanding about depression in the last couple of years. Also, universities are starting to invest in training doctors/nurses/counsellors to help students with depression, especially since this is becoming an increasing problem and there have been a few unfortunate cases of student suicide. The stigma and the lack of understanding is starting to fade.

 

Yes, it's pretty awful. I actually still haven't found a family doctor I'm comfortable with. It's so hard to find a good one! I'm going to have a look at what my university has to offer. Hopefully I'll find someone that clicks.

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