Hi and thanks for your reply - your description is eerily right-on! My undergrad degree is in art - and I can definitely say that art school rewards manic behavior...e.g., 18 hour days in the studio...
My main issue still, is that not one person in my family is 'concerned' about me or believes in my diagnoses - and every time I try to bring it up I end up feeling angry, resentful, and/or embarrassed. Even when I was younger and acting out like a wild child, they did nothing and never took me seriously (I'm just "sensitive" or "stressed" or begging for attention). Perhaps it's time to just figure this out on my own, no matter what anyone else thinks.
I will look into my school's policy, however I have a vague recollection that one actually can't leave school due to mental health issues, unless they lapse registration. There is a woman in my department who has recently ended up in the hospital multiple times after over-dosing on pills (she says they aren't suicide attempts, she just 'wanted to sleep for a few says', but we are not close so I don't really know the situation...) - I would imagine she would be taking leave if possible, yet she's still technically a regular, full-time student as well. The UC system is pretty screwy that way due to all the recent budget cuts.
Anyway, thanks again for your message and input (and the AniManiac reference - I already checked out her blog!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by hamster-bamster
Pterodactyl,
The account sounds like a textbook case of bipolar, plus maybe some borderline as has been picked up already (cutting only, and that stopped).
In general, non-psych parlance, you are an overachiever who crashed. Getting into phd program straight from college without taking a break is being overachieving. You are probably very able and, when hypomanic, creative and inventive, but you do not have the tools, due to a combination of bipolar and young age, to work with your talents and ideas productively with little structure. Structure is key. When you were in college, structure was imposed by you in the form of class schedule, midterms, finals, term papers and possibly labs, and you succeeded so well that you got admitted into your PhD program. But now nobody babysits you and you cannot create your own structure to harness your potential. Your situation with no progress in a year is dire, but not lethal. You need a disability leave. They can't kick you out when you are on leave - ADA regulates universities in the US. I don't know for how long you can be on leave, but if you go to the students with disabilities center on campus, they will be able to advise you of your rights and possibly be an advocate In your dealings with the department. They may enable you to go on disability without releasing your dx to the department, although being bbipolar In the academe is much better than being bipolar in the industry or in healthcare. Some years ago there was a woman on this forum named AniManiac. She was a PhD student whose department knew of her bipolar. She d3fended the dissertation and left this forum in favor of blogging. Let me see if I have her blog address I the inbox... I am sure she will be happy to talk to you.
|