Telling professors about depression?

Hello all. I am currently struggling with this. I have had depression for over 10 years, since I was 13. I am currently in grad school (I went straight from high school to college to grad school with no breaks) and not once have I ever had to tell a professor that my work ethic was suffering because of my depression. I have always kept it to myself because I don't want anyone saying I am using it as an excuse, and I just work harder.

Things have been quite hard lately. I am involved in an externship that is giving me hell and I can't focus or concentrate on my work at all. It's really difficult. I takes me hours just to complete hw that should take me 1 hour at most. I have never had problems with school to this extent. I've always worked hard (maybe too hard, according to my friends), I don't miss any classes; I'm always in class on time or early, I try my best to get As or Bs all the time. I've always been like this since I was a little child. I fear that I am burning out and with everything that is going on in my life, it's affecting me in a bad way.

I've never had to talk to professors about my mental health before. Or about anything really. I'm the type of person who will be in the hospital one day and be in school the next (true story, unfortunately). I have only asked for extensions once in my life and that was just last semester in December 2015 when I had a seizure that caused me to end up in the hospital during finals week.

Should I talk to my professors about how my depression is affecting my work ethic? I'm afraid and I don't want to come off as if I'm being lazy...I do go to therapy and I stopped my antidepressants since they were giving me the seizures, but I have not been on any medication since. My psychiatrist just prescribed me Prozac but I am afraid of getting seizures...However, I am thinking of taking it. I am also thinking of having my psychiatrist write a letter so I can give to my professors, just in case they want proof...Any insight would be appreciated.

I don't think you would look lazy at all. Yes I think you should tell them . they might offer you some support .

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i think your ethic should speak for itself... clearly you are not lazy...
if you feel it would help to discuss it with them then i would do it.. its usually pretty obvious when someone is trying to use something like this as an excuse... ie: they are just not trying and want a get out of jail free pass so to speak...
you're working hard and doing your best to get great grades... so how could they see it as an excuse..? when you hardly miss anything?

its not easy dealing with it alone... maybe they could help you a little even...

You don't have to tell them anything, unless you want to. Since it is causing you difficulty, go to the equal opportunity office and you can get your doctor to fill out a form qualifying you as disabled through the Americans with Disabilities Act. With that registration, that is all you need to tell professors. IIRC, they can't demand specific information. The ADA office will work with you to determine what you need to help you get through school.

The catch is that it can't give you an advantage over other students, it is meant to put you on the same level as everyone else, which you are not right now.

My anxiety issues made it really hard to complete tests on time, so the office was able to get me extra time on testing. I also got extra time for assignments but rarely needed it. I can't tell you what a relief it was to know I had that to fall back on if I needed it. It is the office what determines what you need and the professors have to follow it.

Not only does it give you legal protections, it saves you from having one professor deciding you get one thing and another deciding on something entirely different. I didn't know about this law, until I asked a math professor for more time on tests. He told me he couldn't unless I got an ADA exemption, so it is likely if you go straight to the professor, they will direct you to the ADA office anyway.

Since you are in grad school, telling your advisor specifics can be helpful. It was very helpful in my case. It took me 2 years to complete my thesis and project after my coursework was done. It should have taken me 6 months. To save me money she was able get tuition waived for the required 2 credits needed to be able to work on my thesis and get face time with her.

It really depends on how close you are to your advisor and how understanding you think they will be.

No i wouldn't. If anything i would say that since your seizure you are stressed out easily and harder to focus on your work, is there anything he could compensate you for your medical condition. And leave it at that... blessings and tc

Thanks a lot! I'm thinking they may be able to offer me some support too, or some tips to deal with it.

You're right, dealing with these feelings alone is like a recipe for disaster. It's extremely difficult. And you're right, it is very easy to tell when a person is using something as an excuse. I haven't missed any classes since I started going to grad school actually, and I'm almost done with my second year. It's just gotten very tough.

Oh wow, thanks for telling me about the disabilities office. I always just assumed it was for student with physical disabilities, because professors never mention mental health (which is funny because I'm in school for mental health counseling...). I will look into that and see what they can do. I guess I just feel bad going there. I always feel like I'm being dramatic or making a big deal out of everything, so I try to tough it out, and that sometimes makes things worse. ^___^;;

Well, that's why he gave me the Prozac. The Prozac replaced the Wellbutrin, which was giving me the seizures. Unfortunately the Wellbutrin was working, but the rate side effect was seizures, which I got. So I've been doing a bunch of neurological tests to see if the seizures are related to an underlying problem. I went to go get the Prozac recently but my insurance got cut off. So I will get it next week when it comes back on. I am curious, why wouldn't you say something??

you are amazing
i wish i was as strong as you

hi.

let me start by telling you.. i'm totally with you on the in hospital 1 day, then the next in school (and that, right their,) is the reason i never got far in my education

as for telling professors about depression, i've never had too as such.. though 1 of my professors early on did sense something wrong and she used to take me out of class once a day (not to tell me off or as a punnishment) she just wanted to talk and find out what was going on

of course i later found out she was just pretending all along.. she took me out 1 afternoon of the classroom, and just took back everything i said, saying to me.. oh, oh, depression isn't real

okay... i'm going off on a tangent

no one can tell you if you should tell your professor or not. my advice is to assess how he/she is on understanding general stuff, and then from that decide what to do

You are welcome. I hope it is useful information.

I know what you mean about trying to tough it out. I used to think since it is my head, I should be able to fix it on my own or at the very least not real and would ignore it as much as I could.

That line of thought can be unproductive if not downright destructive. The term before I asked for more time I didn't complete because I got so stressed and twisted up I crashed and burned. At least that was spring term so I also had the summer to recover and get ready for fall. I actually had to drop out mid-term twice, both times as an undergrad.

Once I got registered in the ADA office I never had that problem again and finished up my BS degree and went straight into the MS program and finished the coursework without having to take breaks during a term or miss one. My mental issues never again affected my grades.

Good luck with your program.

I've been in your position. If you're not comfortable giving the whole truth you don't have to. My schoolwork suffered because the week before the start of the semester, I was in the hospital. Returning back to real life was a difficult transition. All I had to tell my professor was I was in the hospital, I can get a note if you need it. He was very cool with it. Later, same class, I was suffering a lot and couldn't get any work done. I just got a note from my therapist - usually they don't care about the dates or whether the note is an excuse for absence or your wellbeing overall. In fact, I just explained it as health issues.

If your grades are suffering and you believe you can get help, it might be a good idea to voice these concerns.