Christina,

I think you have the right idea. Just do what you can, and give yourself a break when you need to. And, yes, look at it as an opportunity to learn something that you can use to understand yourself better and to improve your life. That is the real purpose of writing a paper, much more than the grades.

I'm doing a presentation on dependent personality disorder this week - that's like my primary diagnosis (among others). I see a lot of myself in it, as well as treatment strategies and what I need to do to get better. Sometime I would like to do some research on SI too. I think it is really brave to select that as a topic, and also really good that those who read your paper will learn from the perspective of someone who really understands it.

TC,
Rap