mental illness and medical school

[gaiman]

Hi, I hope this is in the right section, but i had a question to ask of people currently in medical school, particularly those dealing with mental illnesses (specifically ocpd/anxiety issues/depression) or who have a history of it. How has the medical school experience been? is it possible to handle the work load and thrive in medical school despite the mental health issues? This has just been a nagging concern of mine for a while now, what if after all of this hard work i do get in but cant handle medschool, or worse can't handle being a doctor? I'd appreciate any input you may have.

 

 

Thanks guys!

[switcheroo]

Hi, I'm not a med student (yet...hopefully one day though), but before I decided to apply to med school I was working on my PhD in clinical psychology. So maybe I can offer a little bit of insight (for whatever it's worth). Anyway, I would say that in my clinical experience, it is definitely doable for you to be able to handle the med life, if you have appropriate coping strategies in place. It *is* a stressful life to lead, but if you can prepare yourself in advance, there's no reason why you can't become a doctor.

 

Although one thing I would suggest is that, if you aren't already, I would find a psychologist/psychiatrist/other therapist to talk to, to hopefully help you overcome some of these mental health obstacles that you're facing. Therapy can also be a useful way to help you to develop effective methods of coping with anxiety and stress before you get into medicine, so that when the really stressful stuff of med school hits, you're already prepared. Anyway, just my two cents on the topic.

[Lactic Folly]

Try a search for chemgirl's posts - she (and others) have shared inspiring stories here:

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21421

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24988

[chemgirl]

It is hard but doable, I think it is also very personal-ie: if you are well-controlled, stable, etc. If you want to drop me a pm I can send you a link to my blog where I go into things in more detail. I don't mind answering any more specific questions you or anyone else may have, either.

 

Best of luck either way!

[foos]

hey chemgirl, I've sent you a PM

[cas1234]

I am so glad someone posted this. I have anxiety issues as well and was wondering how I would be able to cope with medical school (if I get in).

 

Do any of you have particular strategies (e.g. meditation, yoga, etc) that help reduce your stress?

[thami]

So far... I take mental health days... go shopping... coffee/lunch with friends... and find someone you can ***** to when things are going rough

 

I do this too -

my anxiety has increasingly gotten worse ever since starting university. I haven't got the courage to go see a psych about it though because sometimes I think I might actually bipolar (this past summer I studied - that is, made notes/flashcards for about ten chapters in a span of three weeks - for a fall term course during one of my 'up' episodes). It's funny NOW because I'm in the midst of the course now and it's basically a review, but I was actually panicking and not sleeping at the time because I felt I had some deadline to reach.

 

Anyways, I'm especially vigilant during my low phases - because things go downhill when I can't bring myself to get to class because I'm too apathetic.

 

Ironically I work in psychiatry. We all encourage people to get help (I do this to my best friend who works with me in the same department) but are too afraid to seek help for ourselves. At least I am

[chemgirl]

Argh.... I wrote out this huge long most but for some reason it disappeared when I tried to post it... so, I do everything aranndil suggests plus:

 

-Admitting I had a mental illness and needed help was the first big way I helped myself.

-I went to my school's student affairs office and informed them of my problems. They hooked me up with a great psychiatrist who in turn worked with the school to make a modified call/exam schedule for me.

-Regular sleep and exercise schedules help

-Put a lot of effort into finding the right medication (if you need it) and also identifying triggers... when I was first diagnosed I charted my moods, anxiety levels, medication compliance, etc to see if I could find any helpful patterns

-Plan for a crisis so that you have options when it happens... know the phone numbers you can call, does your province have a mental health crisis line? Does your psychiatrist return calls within a short period of time? Do you have a physician/medical student support service at your school/province?

-Inform a close family member about your illness, preferably someone who lives with you. I made a deal with my husband... if he says I need to go to the doctor I must go, even if I don't agree. That has saved my ass before.

-Get used to asking for help... it's not a bad thing. I don't regret the times I asked for help, I regret the times that I didn't, especially during clerkship year.

-Don't be ashamed if you need concessions. I was given a modified call schedule and I was too ashamed to use it. It was a big mistake with some crappy consequences.

[007]

I agree with chemgirl's post. Also, to the poster afraid of getting help...worst case scenerio is that what you're afraid of is confirmed, but the benefit of seeing someone is that they enable you to live with it better. Having a diagnosis doesn't change how your day to day life is, but having someone help you with how you're feeling does.

[The Law]

chemgirl and aranndil provide some excellent advice! There is such negativity associated with seeking help for mental health issues. Your well-being rests upon many factors, your mental health and happiness are critical factors that need to always be looked after.

 

For some reason, some people feel they are weak or weird if they try to address their mental health problems. For this reason, there are so many people in our society struggling with mental health issues that are not getting the proper help they need to help them control it. Despite these inclinations, these problems are very prevalent in our society! Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses should not be dealt with alone. It is very important that you take the action of going to see your doctor who will help guide you through your problems. This is one key thing that will help those suffering from mental illness regain control of their lives and feel much better about themselves. If someone fractures their wrist, do they just pretend it didn't happen and look after it themselves? Obviously not. So why do the same with mental health issues? They are just as important to your well-being as any other aspect of your life. You will feel so much better knowing that you are taking steps to improve these problems and have everything to gain by not ignoring it.

[gaiman]

Thanks everyone for the responses! and i have to agree, seeing someone about my mental health issue was honestly the best thing i did for myslef these last few years. It's hard to monitor or even see yourself the way a trained professional does, and sometimes with just a quick little interjection he or she can radically change the way you see an issue. (although more self mediated theraputical interventions do exist, such as cbt etc., they still involve seeing a therapist to learn the technique and to help you along the way) And in response to 007, actually for me just knowing my diagnosis was probably half the battle right there; after realising you're not the only one thats dealing with this issue, that you're not just 'weak' or 'immature' or whatever else you tell yourself is really wrong with you, i was finally able to see my issues as seperate from who i really am, something actually manageable.

 

On the other hand though, many illnessess can't actually be completely 'cured' and i cant help but feel like i'm going to have to deal with my issues for the rest of my life, in some capacity, which really frustrates me.

[gaiman]

I am so glad someone posted this. I have anxiety issues as well and was wondering how I would be able to cope with medical school (if I get in).

 

Do any of you have particular strategies (e.g. meditation, yoga, etc) that help reduce your stress?

My strategies for dealing with the anxiety really are just plain old schedules, i mean making sure i exercise, eat solid meals, and stay busy. I like to take things that really cause me anxiety and break them down into smaller goals i can actually realistically deal with it, be it breaking an assignment down into its different sections, or even for more epic issues like what the hell am i doing with my life. This is of course after i found help for my panic attacks, which really made functioning, schedule or no schedule impossible.

[chemgirl]

I just wanted to say I am so happy that this post has been positive and helpful! There have been other discussions of mental illness on this forum that have gone horribly wrong (imo) and were very attackatory (there's a neologism for you!).

 

Anxiety is a huge issue among medical students... I think med school selects for a high proportion of anxious people. I didn't even realise I had an anxiety problem until I started getting treatment for my mood problem!

 

I am happy that I got treatment and I would encourage anyone who is scared about treatment to reconsider, ESPECIALLY the poster worried about bipolar disorder... it can be hard to accept the idea that you are bipolar and you likely always will be, but I have found the stability of treatment to be so much better than the alternative, even better than the episodes of hypomania where I feel like the whole shiny world is in the palm of my invincible hand (that inevitably ends with a downswing crash into depression). The passion IS still there for me, but I can reign it in and control it before I self destruct.