Posted by Katherine on April 15, 1999, at 3:38:01
In reply to grad school and depression, posted by mila on April 2, 1999, at 9:01:44
> To those of you who have mental illness and are in grad school -how the hell do you do it?
> I was just accepted into grad school and now i am wracking my brains about whether to go or not. i really want to go, but I tend to lose nearly 2 weeks every month to depression and anxiety. How do you cope and keep up? (I'll also have to lead an undergraduate class - anyone in this situation?)Hi Mila, I am going to be starting law school in September and I am really scared too. I've been suffering from depression for the past 16 years and decided to go back to school full time to finish up my undergraduate degree in two years. It has been a virtual hell for me. I finally decided to get help last September, i.e. see a
shrink. I started off with paxil and rivitrol, then onto effexor xr, I just started serzone today. If I don't find one that works before law school starts I don't know what I'm going to do. My depression and anxiety are linked to stress (i.e. school) and I have had a really hard time trying to finish my undergrad degree (people in the academic world do not seem to be very sympathetic towards "depression" and do not credit it as being a real disease) and I definately do not want to have the same problem in law school. I feel like if I don't find a solution, the stress from law school and the depression and anxiety that it will cause are going to really push me over the edge and kill me. I came pretty close to losing it just this past month. I'm not sure if the anti-depressants are making me worse or better. When I was on the paxil and rivitrol, I started doing self-mutilation, something that I had never done before. I've decided that if the serzone doesn't work that is it for me. I can't handle it any more. I feel like I'm on a never ending roller coaster ride that could go off the rails at any moment.
poster:Katherine
thread:4323
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990401/msgs/4895.html