Managing your mental health/illness in grad school

[Regenerative Christine]

I am not sure how many of you on here have/had suffered from mental illness, but from those that do, I am curious to hear about your experiences in managing it. 

 

I've been a longtime sufferer of depression (since I was 12), but did not seek treatment/therapy until I was an undergrad. Currently a grad student, i've been on a relatively high dose of zoloft and xanax (prescribed as needed) for the past 2 years. I still have my panic attacks and paranoia every now and then, but overall therapy and medication has been my saving grace. 

 

I bring this up because there's often this misconception that grad students (even undergrads) give off an aura of "having your life together."

 

I'm curious to see what anyone else has to say on the topic of mental health/illness. 

[gliaful]

My fiance has type 1 bipolar disorder (the most severe type -- features an episode of psychosis) and he's in his last semester of grad school. It did take him awhile to find a medication regimen that was right for him, but his advisor and instructors have been understanding and accommodating the whole way through. Grad students (and faculty!) are only human -- we all have our individual needs. I think the best thing you can do is to communicate/ be upfront with anyone who needs to know about these issues. I'm sure they would rather be aware on the days you might need to take it easy/go to doctor appointments/etc tending to your needs than to be in the dark and wonder where their grad student has disappeared to that day.

[blasian]

You should check if your school has Disability Student Services. Some of them only require documentation from your doctor in order to get enrolled, and from there they may be able to provide services that you may need due to complications of your illness/health. I know that at my school diagnosed depression and other psychological diagnoses counts under such services. 

 

Also doing other things in conjunction with medication that promote wellness: exercise, eating right, sleeping enough. finding hobbies outside of school work (yes it is necessary), going to therapy, finding supportive folks regarding mental health and finding supportive folks regarding school, finding community regarding hobbies, and the ultimate of finding supportive folks that fall into multiple categories. 

 

Good Luck!

[anabeldm9]

I think mental health among graduate students is not spoken about enough; and I personally feel uncomfortable talking about with fellow students and professors. I wish there was more emphasis on mental health in programs.

 

I don't suffer from severe depression, but generalized anxiety. I noticed after my first semester an increased feeling of anxiety all around so this semester I have been taking advantage of the free counseling sessions at my school. Most schools offer at least several free sessions and then can help transition you into longer term therapy if needed. Counseling really helps me and I've done it at various times in my life.

 

Also, I discovered a female graduate student support group that I plan on joining at some point in the near future after I've gone through some individual sessions. I encourage people to check out what your school has to offer. Chances are it's pretty decent.

[Vene]

This is kind of focused on the sciences and I know isn't about coming in with a mental health issue, but still may be interesting. Mental illness really is a major issue in graduate education.
 
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_02_04/caredit.a1400031

About 60% of graduate students said that they felt overwhelmed, exhausted, hopeless, sad, or depressed nearly all the time. One in 10 said they had contemplated suicide in the previous year.

[shadowclaw]

I think mental health among graduate students is not spoken about enough; and I personally feel uncomfortable talking about with fellow students and professors. I wish there was more emphasis on mental health in programs.

 

I think mental health isn't spoken about enough in general. I think a lot of people are afraid to talk about their problems because either they're afraid people won't like them or respect them anymore, or they're afraid they'll end up in a mental hospital. I also think people who don't suffer don't understand or even take mental health issues seriously. I have suffered from depression, social anxiety, or both since I was 14. I'm now almost 30, which means I've spent more than half of my life dealing with mental illness.

 

When I first became depressed and started having suicidal thoughts, I went to my mom and asked if I could see a psychiatrist to help me. She insisted that I wasn't depressed and was just trying to get attention (which was absurd because I was the only child left in the house and I got tons of attention from my parents). At the time, I was taking online mental health quizzes to determine if I was depressed (I didn't know anything about depression and I didn't know if my feelings were normal), and she believed that I only thought I was depressed because the internet told me I was. She did take me to a counselor, and she told this to the counselor before we even started a session. Ultimately, I was just too uncomfortable talking to the counselor and pretended I felt fine again so I could stop going.

 

My mom did end up taking me more seriously a year later when my dad and she found out I was cutting myself (sorry if that's TMI). Except at that point, I felt like she was just angry with me for doing it, and once again, she later ended up saying that I just did it for attention.

 

Ultimately, my own experiences with talking about my mental health have caused me disappointment and more pain, which in turn led me to stop talking about it. I am somewhat ok with talking to some people about my anxiety, but I find that most people are clueless when it comes to social anxiety. My depression has mostly faded in the past 5 years, so I don't really have to worry about talking about it, but I don't think I ever could have a conversation with anyone about it because they just don't get it and are not supportive at all.

[1Q84]

I think mental health among graduate students is not spoken about enough; and I personally feel uncomfortable talking about with fellow students and professors. I wish there was more emphasis on mental health in programs.

 

This has concerned me a lot, especially at the application stage. I don't believe I suffer from any mental health issues myself but I do have someone in my immediate family who has severe mental health issues. I hesitated to even mention the negative effects it had on me in any of the "diversity statements" that I wrote because of some posts I remembered seeing on TGC from years back. These people mentioned how even a faint whiff of mental health issues would make some adcomms balk because it suggested instability or inability to complete a program/achieve. 

 

It's an awful suggestion and somehow I highly doubt many adcomms would discriminate on this basis but I can't help but let it niggle in the back of my mind when it comes to discussing mental health in relation to academia. That's all to say that I can totally understand why people who suffer from mental health related issues would be uncomfortable addressing it with fellow students and professors.

[Cheshire_Cat]

Interesting topic.  We really don't talk about it enough.

Most of the time I am pretty even emotionally, and if I'm sad or depressed there is a reason for it that is rather evident, such as the death of a friend.  I'm not clinically depressed and I generally consider myself very healthy emotionally.  But there was one time I remember knowing without a shadow of a doubt that something was wrong and I was depressed.  It was the second semester of my masters program.  That experience led me to realize what a problem depression could be. I couldn't fix it. I couldn't make myself happy or give myself the motivation to do school.  I couldn't self soothe or just be better like I normally can.  In the end, I was able to get better with support from my family and better nutrition, but I was very close to seeing someone about it, and it was a very trying time.

Now that I am heading back, I am concerned that something will happen again, so I'll probably get some sort of counciling.  I have a good friend who has been open to me about her mental illness and I think that has helped me to realize that it is okay to get counciling if you need it, and that it can be benificial. 

 

Mental health is a lot like physical health.  There is a lot of things you can do to keep yourself mentally healthy, just like there are things to keep you physically healthy.  Meditation, adequate rest, good nutrition and excercise and a good support group are all extremely important for mental health.  However, just like a compound fracture needs to be set by a doctor, and no amount of excercise and healthy eating is going to set that bone, some mental health problem need professional help.

 

It does take both parts though.  The doctor can give you something to help your mental health, but if you choose to continually have unhealthy habits, then in the end, no amount of medication will fix that.  Lastly, and may be a little off topic, a drink can be a nice way to relax after a hard day.  However, self medicating with alcohol is a bad idea.  If you find that drinking is the only thing keeping you going, then it is time to see a professional or change something.  In my experience, excessive drinking causes more problems than it solves.  It's a pain killer, but it doesn't fix anything, and you need to fix it to live a better life.  Just my two cents.

[MermaidturnedMSW]

I suffer from a few mental health issues and have been in therapy for the past two years now. I plan to continue therapy when I start school. I know that without my mental health, I will not be able to compete a program. 

 

But I did not mention this is any of my apps. I also heard that speaking about mental health will "spook" an adcom. I have a few people in my life that I can talk to about my mental health and I know what I need to do to keep sane.