Mental Health is More Important Than Academic Success

December 30, 2020April 1, 2021 Genevieve6 Comments

Growing up, I was always motivated by grades. I liked having that definitive mark to indicate whether I did well or not. Clearly, the beginnings of my perfectionistic tendencies go way back. Even in middle school, I remember carrying around a lot of anxiety about tests and grades. When I got to college, I was excited to be focusing more time on my interests – biology and anthropology – but the pressures of academia and my budding mental health issues wore me down.

Still, I was determined to do well. I had learned that I could earn good grades if I just put in enough work, even in subjects that didn’t come naturally to me. School was what I knew, and I felt tantalizingly close to the finish line. So, when I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in the middle of my college career, I didn’t slow my progress down. Like many students, I simply forced myself to put my mental and physical health behind academic success.

At its worst, I went back and forth from my bed, desk, and class, taking naps when necessary but skipping meals and forgoing social interaction to conserve emotional energy. I thought about suicide a lot. I had several plans in mind, and I kept the worst of it from my therapist, fearing that she would force me to go to the hospital. The worst part of that potential event, in my mind, was missing class and falling behind. When I look at photos of myself from this time, I remember how forced it often felt to smile. Even on graduation day, I didn’t look happy; I just looked exhausted.

I hoped that if I could just make it to graduation and go home, I could rest and recover, and my mental health would improve. Instead, the sudden lack of structure combined with my admittedly fragile emotional state made things much worse. I tried – for months, I went diligently to therapy and attempted to pull myself out of my depression, but ultimately slipped back into suicidality. I was hospitalized for over a week, then released on condition that I do a partial hospitalization program for two more weeks.

I don’t know that all of that was caused by the stress of college. I am in my early twenties, when many mental illnesses make their presence known, so it’s possible that my symptoms would have been just as severe had I not gone to college at all. But I suspect that my perfectionism surrounding academics and the pressure I put on myself to succeed made an already risky situation worse.

When I can find compassion for myself these days, it makes me sad that I treated myself so poorly. Yes, I got a good GPA, but at what cost? To imagine anyone else doing what I did – valuing their academic success over their own life – is unbelievably sad. There is no grade that matters more than your wellbeing. I’m not exactly sure how my perspective was so narrow for so long. I knew that I could have taken a semester off – my mom suggested it, once – but I was vehemently opposed. I didn’t want to fall behind my peers. The thought of returning to campus without my friends made me anxious, and it left a vaguely shameful feeling in my chest. To take a semester off felt like a failure to me. That was my perfectionism speaking. There is absolutely nothing wrong or bad about taking a semester off. Or two. Or however many you need.

If I could go back, I would do things differently. I did love my majors – I would keep those. In fact, finding subjects that sparked my curiosity was a positive force on my mental health. Knowing that I had something to use in a career gave me a sliver of hope that was enough to let me imagine a future in which I wasn’t depressed. But two majors in four years is hard. I took a lot of credits each semester, and there was no way to avoid pairing difficult classes together. If I could go back, I would do it all more slowly. I’d take fewer credits per semester and accept that it would take me longer than four years. I’d also apply for accommodations. Beyond the assistance of longer exam times, it would have been nice to have my professors in the loop about my depression.

A lot of my perfectionism surrounding academics existed long before college, but there is something to be said for the culture that permeates my alma mater. There’s a sort of competitiveness among perfectionistic students for who can push themselves the hardest. If you say you’re stressed, people ask you how many credits you’re taking, as if your stress doesn’t count unless your course load is full. It’s not stated outright, but the general atmosphere is one of suffering-related humblebragging. If you’re stressed, it means you’re pushing yourself. If you’re not stressed, you might be slacking. Again – I love my university, and I’m proud to have gotten my degree there. People are motivated to achieve at Michigan, which is wonderful. That said, the limitless pressure to succeed can be dangerous.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for college-age people in the US, and its rate is increasing. Around 1,000 college students die by suicide each year. When young people are off at college, often away from home for the first time, they’re vulnerable to the prevailing ideas. Submerged in a competitive culture, it’s easy for students to believe that their future will be ruined by a bad grade. And I get it – students have plans beyond college that require top-notch GPAs. For a while, I thought that veterinary school would be my next step. Instead, my plans seemed to come to a screeching halt after college. Depression has altered my life enormously. If I could talk to sophomore me, I’d say, “I haven’t gone to grad school, but my life is not ruined.” Through the waves of depression, I catch glimpses of what really matters, and none of it is a letter grade or a GPA. I think I have a healthier perspective on life and academics now.

I sincerely believe that most of my depression is biochemical. That said, I’m pretty sure my college experience sped up the decline in my mental health significantly. Again – I don’t regret going to college, but I do think that if I had taken time to consider my innate traits, really thought about the stresses of being a highly introverted person at a university with more than 40,000 students, things might be different for me today. I did my best at the time, but I wish that I had honored those parts of myself; the quiet parts, the parts that need calm and routine, which were frazzled and burnt out after four years of high pressure. My sensory differences made the pace of life I’d chosen at university unsustainable, and by the time I graduated, I had an almost constant low level of vertigo, loud noises made me cry, and lots of movement in my visual field (like in a busy dining hall or a crowded hallway) made me disoriented.

I would encourage anyone who is pursuing a degree now or considering doing so to remember that it’s your education and your life. Everyone goes at their own pace, and what anyone else thinks about your pace doesn’t matter. Furthermore, what you think other people are thinking is likely more harsh than the reality. Taking care of yourself and your mental health is not always easy, and going against the grain takes courage. Think about the resources and environments that would support you and seek them out. Make friends who understand you, and above all, put your health first.

(There were parts of college that I really loved. The friends I made and the things I learned were priceless. Football games, waffles, fancy events at my dorm, exploring campus – there are tons of great things about college! I didn’t intend for this post to turn out so dark. It’s all about moderation.)

Watching rotund squirrels eat nonspecific trash was always fun, too.

Overcoming Phone Anxiety, One Vet Trip at a Time

December 19, 2020May 5, 2022 GenevieveLeave a comment

I hate making phone calls. A strange sort of performance anxiety makes me script it out in my mind and practice over and over with the number dialed in, waiting for me to hit the call button. I never feel ready. Eventually, I get so fed up with myself that I have to just press the button and hope that my verbal skills are adequate for getting me through the act of ordering delivery or making an appointment or whatever it is. And, they are. I’m not actually bad at phone calls. I don’t think I’ve ever had a call that validated my fear – that I’ll just forget how to talk and have to hang up after embarrassing myself with gibberish. Once I’m on the phone with someone, it usually goes smoothly. For whatever reason, the lead-up is the worst part.

I’ve had to call the vet numerous times in my two short years as a dog owner. My dog, Stella, is what you’d call “high-energy.”

close-up-of-dog-face-while-running — *Zoomies around the couch.*

She needs activity, either vigorous exercise or a long, meandering “smell outing,” as I call them. (There’s not much walking. It’s mostly smelling.) She gets into a lot of weird, wonderful stuff outside – sometimes she puts it in her mouth, sometimes she rolls on it. She plays fetch with reckless abandon – skidding to a stop or wiping out in a cloud of dust. Stella’s ability to seek out disgusting, physically risky situations is pretty incredible. First, it was giardia. Then, it was an eye infection. Then tapeworms, then another eye infection, kennel cough, a bloody, broken nail, and finally, another eye infection. Actually, this time she had an ulcer on her eye. Yowch. When I woke up and saw her swollen, watery, goop-laden eye, it wasn’t hard to pick up the phone.

I think it’s common to feel braver when you’re doing something for someone else than when doing the same thing for yourself. It’s easier to give up when the only one impacted will be you. When you’re being depended upon, either by volunteering to help or because it’s your responsibility, there’s much less room to waffle. I’ve found that in calling the vet for vaccinations, checkups, eye infections (ugh!) my anxiety is dramatically reduced because I don’t consider it an optional task. When I have to do it, I have to do it; there’s no point in waiting.

I also find an extra boost of authority in advocating for someone else. It’s like I’m calling up the vet and saying “Ah, yes. I’m calling on behalf of my dog. She… doesn’t know how to talk, so I promised to call for her.” And then it’s like I’m not even a part of the phone call. I’m just a proxy for a four-legged creature with a goopy eye.

I think I might start using that when I have to make other phone calls. I’ll just imagine that I’m calling on behalf of my anxious self, who I promised to take care of. “Yes, hello? I’m calling about Gen’s prescriptions. Yeah, she’s overthinking right now and can’t come to the phone.” I’ll be her more courageous counterpart. She needs me, poor thing.

I know people who use this tactic for public speaking – pretend you’re someone else. You’re playing a character. That way, the attention isn’t actually on you, because you’re not really being yourself. It’s an interesting little mental trick that, I’d imagine, takes a lot of commitment to pull off.

For a while, I thought that my anxiety about phone calls was because of the lack of visual social cues. It seemed like the potential for misunderstanding or blundering mistakes was higher when I couldn’t see the person I was talking to. But why, then, wouldn’t texting make me anxious? The written word is where I’m most comfortable, mostly because it gives me time to think through what I want to say and edit before I hit “send.” Maybe that advantage outweighs the anxiety of not being able to see the recipient of my words.

In any case, I hope that Stella chooses to be a little more cautious in the future. But if not, I’m prepared to call the vet for her, seeing as I’ve had plenty of practice.

Therapy Code Words

October 23, 2020November 10, 2021 Genevieve2 Comments

Unfortunately for me and my therapist, my ability to write words does not always translate well to being able to speak them. I need time to think through an entire thought before I speak it, and I struggle sometimes to get the words out when the topic is something challenging. And not just for sensitive topics like self-harm or suicide, but even for topics like life goals.

In fact, the word “goals” makes my stomach twist. I feel so much internal pressure when it comes to my ambitions that any discussion of the topic overwhelms me. It’s as if I know that once I start really acting to reach my goals, I’ll have to go all out because I don’t know how to not do something 100%. And that’s overwhelming. And unrealistic. So I try to avoid talking about it or thinking about it beyond my daily sense of guilt for not “doing more.”

It goes without saying that I don’t like this. Goals are important, and they should be exciting, not something you dread. Yes, they often take hard work to reach, but I think the balance of work to reward should be worth it. I don’t want to put in work just to alleviate an unhealthy internal pressure; I’d rather work for something because I want the excitement and fun and pride of achieving the thing. Depression makes this hard. Excitement and fun and pride are not feelings that depression wants around. So, I find myself terrified of adding more to my plate and pursuing my goals, and terrified that I’ll do nothing and fall even more behind my self-imposed schedule. Trapped in between the two, “goals” is a scary word.

Here’s where the code word comes in. Instead of “goals,” my therapist and I talk about “clams.”

It’s groundbreaking, I know.

There’s no significance to clams, it was just the first word my therapist thought of, but it stuck. Much like the Potato Scale of Depression is useful in its humor, “clams” are somehow easier to talk about because of the silliness. It takes away the gravity of having a discussion about goals and replaces it with a lighthearted conversation about a bivalve often eaten with a lemon-butter sauce.

And this is how I want my goals to be. Not so scary. Not so enormous. Just little steps to bigger results, like shucking one clam at a time to make a chowder.

5 Ways I’m Reducing My Depression Naps

October 21, 2020November 19, 2021 Genevieve2 Comments

I sleep ok at night and WAY too much during the day. When I’m really depressed, I can get up early to take care of my dog and then go back to sleep until late afternoon. Sometimes, I can limit my depression naps when I have a lot keeping me busy, such as any work tasks I might have – which I do from home and largely on my own schedule within a day. But for the most part, I find myself frustratingly vulnerable to the sandman’s influence. Plus, now that Stella is no longer a puppy, she’s happy to spend hours on end with me, dreaming of whatever dogs dream of while we sleep on my bed. She used to wake me up every couple of hours to demand something from me, but now, it’s all snoozing.

1. Running

Running is a two-birds-one-stone solution for me, because it offers both the physiological and biochemical benefits of exercise in addition to the incredible fact that you can’t sleep when you’re running. I’ve lost a lot of my endurance, but I’ve been maintaining at least some regular running, which is remarkably easier to do the more recently I’ve had a ketamine infusion. I recently noted that the day after an infusion, I ran three miles without stopping, which I hadn’t done in months. Then, a few days before my next one, I struggled just to run one mile. Why is it so different? I guess that as the ketamine wears off, I lose the mental energy to push myself very far, and I’m worn out as soon as I start. It’s frustrating, but I try to just be pleased that I got out there at all. Perhaps, if I manage to rebuild my endurance a little, it’ll be easier to keep it up even through the changes to my ketamine buffer.

2. Setting the Intention with No Nap Monday

No Nap Monday was created in response to the smashing success of Yes Day, both of which were proposed by my therapist. No Nap Monday has been far less successful, but I do try to at least sleep less on Mondays. Sometimes I set an alarm for something reasonable, which is definitely subjective and changes week to week. Sometimes, my depression naps are an hour. Sometimes, they’re three. But no matter what, it’s good to at least have the intention.

3. Adding Activities

Ultimately, my goal is to not only sleep less, but also do more. It follows that I should attempt to add things to my routine. Volunteering is option that interests me. Over the years, I’ve volunteered or worked with animals in a few different capacities, and I always really enjoy it, so I tend to look for opportunities in that area. There’s an animal rescue near me that needs volunteers to feed the bunnies, and that sounds right up my alley. I just have to tackle my expert-level overthinking habit and then plow through my anxiety about new things and I’ll be right on track!

4. SAD Lamp Makes Me Happy (or at least less sleepy)

It’s now mid-October, so I pulled my seasonal depression lamp out of my closet the other day. The weather doesn’t affect me as much here in Colorado as it did in Michigan, but I can tell after a few cloudy days that I’m in need of some sun. Simulated sun will have to do.

5. Changing My Routine with Depression Naps

Much as I hate doing it, deviating from my routine often keeps me from giving in to depression naps. I tend to get irresistibly tired as noon approaches, and my mood slopes downward in the afternoon anyway, so that’s my prime depression nap opening. By forcing myself to be busy doing other things during that time, I keep my brain on its toes. The downside to this is that I do well with routine for other reasons, so abandoning that makes me anxious and sometimes decidedly cranky. But at least I can prove to myself that I am capable of functioning without depression naps.

blurry-road-with-green-trees-showing-movement

It’s Been a Whole Month: Birthday, Anxiety, and Ketamine

September 22, 2020 Genevieve1 Comment

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted here. I have some in-progress posts that are languishing in my drafts folder, but none of them feel complete enough to be posted. So, to try to break through the stall in my writing, this is a rambling update that will have to be good enough for me.

Look at me, fighting perfectionism one disjointed blog post at a time.

Ketamine

I haven’t written about my most recent ketamine infusions because the propofol makes it harder to find anything about them to share. I think that going into it with the expectation that I won’t remember much makes it harder to grasp whatever snippets do remain. Having the intention to write about an infusion helps me pay attention to my experience; without it, the whole appointment just disappears from my memory in the hours following an infusion.

When I began my treatment with ketamine infusions, I was fascinated by the endless imagery that each infusion created. Every appointment held new associations and interesting scenes. But lately, they all feel the same. Of course, this is okay. The dose of ketamine that I receive would probably be too intense without the propofol, and I suppose I’d rather not remember much than have a terrifying trip. Still, there was something helpful about having something of the experience to hold onto.

I have the sense that I’m more able to remember things when I’m more present in the real world – like how you remember your dreams when you awaken in the middle of them. I wonder if the degree to which you’re aware of your surroundings during a ketamine infusion impacts its efficacy, if at all. Because if it’s not at all, I’d totally ask my doctor to poke me every 15 minutes and ask me what I’m thinking about so that he can write down whatever absurd, hilarious things I say. Although, my level of zonk is usually such that I probably wouldn’t answer.

Birthday

My birthday happened this month, and it caused a lot of anxiety about the future. It’s frustrating to be hindered by my own brain. I commonly hold myself to unrealistic expectations and judge myself harshly for not meeting them. I wanted a different path than the one I’m on now, and I’m having a hard time letting go of that vision. Not that I can’t eventually end up in the same place, but I didn’t see it progressing along such a challenging path. But that’s life, right? I’ve been trying to re-frame my birthday as just another marker of survival. If I can’t get myself to be pleased with my progress in the last year, I can at least be neutral.

Anxiety

Anxiety and depression often go together, and I’ve noticed a pattern in my mental health where I alternate between the two. As I start to come out of depression, the anxiety kicks in and I feel horrified by all of the time I “wasted”. I think about how far behind my expectations I am, and then I get a frantic sense of urgency to kick it into high gear. Unfortunately, I’m also easily overwhelmed and the prospect of “catching up” to my expectations triggers an avalanche of worries and insecurities. Ultimately, whether it’s depression or anxiety that is most immediately at hand, the result is still a barrier to my forward movement.

This flexible connection between depression and anxiety is not black and white. I wouldn’t say that I move completely out of depression and into anxiety – the Venn diagram has more overlap than that. My position within it just shifts into the middle so that I’m simultaneously slow, tired, and occasionally hopeless while also filling up with anxiety saturated with heavy judgement. Fun times.

At least the anxiety pushes me to do more than I otherwise would. I would rather be motivated by the reward of doing the thing rather than the fear of not doing the thing, but I also prefer being motivated at all over not at all (if that makes sense). I’ve been trying to run again, and have been somewhat successful in the last couple of weeks. The wildfire smoke in Colorado has intermittently lifted and returned, so I don’t always get clear air, but I figure the benefit to my mental health probably outweighs the damage.

landscape-photo-of-tall-grasses-near-road-going-towards-mountains-shrouded-in-wildfire-smoke

This is kind of a rambling post, but again, I can’t seem to write anything in this context that seems worthy of posting. So, this will have to do. In other news, this is not my kitten, but look at how cute she is.

blurry-photo-of-beach-with-camera-moving-while-taking-picture

Vertigo-Induced Panic is Terrible

July 7, 2020 Genevieve2 Comments

We clambered into the car, half of the backseat piled with our stuff so that the dog could have the back. We’re all isolated these days, and since we were able and the infection data in the states we’d be in looked ok, we got on the interstate for a family visit (with careful precautions). Two months after the passing of my grandfather from COVID-19, the family was feeling the distance. We made it in 14 hours, a new record for the journey we’ve made dozens of times.

I’ve always gotten motion sickness in cars, so road trips can be a boring affair for me. Hour after hour, I look out the window, listen to music, and let the movement of the car lull me into a drowsy stupor. As a child on this trip, I would fall asleep for a while and wake to the car slowing down as we took an exit to a gas station or a rest stop. As an adult, I find it hard to disengage from the road; I’m always paying attention to the other cars and looking out for danger in our lane.

Traveling during a pandemic made us uneasy. We stopped as little as possible, only getting off the highway for gas and careful bathroom breaks. Few people wore masks, and we got odd looks and a wide berth on our way through the doors to the little convenience store in Nebraska. In Iowa, we took a side door past families eating at outdoor picnic tables, used the facilities, and beelined it back to the car. Illinois was busier, and by then we were exhausted. Despite spending the entire time sitting, long road trips are remarkably draining.

We left home at 5 A.M. and arrived at our destination at 8 P.M. After unloading the car, supervising Stella’s obligatory investigation of all smells contained in the house, and eating some real food, we each turned in for the night.

Coming from semi-arid Colorado, I’m unaccustomed to the humidity. I was instantly too hot under the blankets. After I threw off the covers, I tried to relax and put my sweaty discomfort out of my mind. When I closed my eyes, I felt the world moving beneath me — gently but unpredictably. I’ve had mild vertigo before. Boats, amusement park rides, and treadmills all produce a similiar feeling of unsteadiness for me. This, however, did not subside as my previous spells have tended to do. Instead, it only became more intense. I sat up and tried to take deep breaths through the rising nausea. The room was jostling around me, and I felt very high up on my bed. I slid to the floor and started to panic; it was only getting worse, and at this point, I didn’t think I could get up without falling over. Realizing there was no trash can in my room, I decided that I might have to throw up in the dog bowl. (Thankfully, that was avoided.)

In an attempt to convince my brain that my body was stationary, I lay flat on the floor, pressing my palms and heels against the hard surface. Truly panicking now, I took gasping breaths and tried to keep my gaze locked on something still. It was not working. I crawled to the wall and sat with my back pressed against it, crying, shaking, and trying to get my breathing under control. I felt like I was in a rickety wagon, speeding along a track while bumping and swaying dramatically. Even when sitting completely still and looking only at one point, the world around me continued to move.

I don’t know how long it took — I’m sure it felt like longer than it was — but the panic subsided and I eventually felt capable of making it downstairs to the kitchen. I sat at the table and looked at a spot on the tablecloth for over an hour. Slowly, the vertigo improved. Moving my head as little as possible, I got up to get a snack, hoping it would settle my stomach. I shuffled two small steps forward, then stopped to wait for things to slow down, then repeated as I moved through the kitchen and back to the table with some crackers.

Part of the anxiety came from the overwhelming disorientation, which then produced more anxiety because I instantly thought “how will I get home?” Sitting in a car for 14 hours created horrific vertigo and a subsequent panic attack, so the thought of doing the same thing a week later worried me.

Thankfully, our trip home was uneventful. I took Dramamine and we made more lengthy stops. I also hogged the front seat for part of the drive. The vertigo I noticed upon getting home was much less intense and didn’t stop me from swiftly falling asleep. Human beings are not well-suited to spending an entire day in a moving vehicle, but it was more than worth it to see family. Even with the masks, the social distance, and the little Lysol wipes wrapped around the serving utensils, we managed to fully enjoy our time together.

drawing of landscape with tree and river and words about self-compassion

Art for Mental Health Awareness Month

May 23, 2020November 20, 2021 Genevieve6 Comments

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Mental Health America has several initiatives to spread awareness during May. One of these is #mentalillnessfeelslike. Peruse different categories on their website, where MHA has compiled Instagram posts from people participating in the hashtag. It’s always comforting to find validation in others’ experiences.

The hashtag got me thinking about my own attempts to represent what mental illness feels like to me. This blog is mostly writings that describe my experiences with depression, anxiety, and their various treatments. So, for something different and a trip down memory lane, I thought I would take a jaunt through some of the art I’ve made on the topic of mental health/illness.

The following slideshow was my attempt to depict a strange sensation brought on by an antidepressant I no longer take. It left me feeling “better”, but in an artificial way, as if I could feel my depression just outside the boundaries of myself. It was sort of like being squeezed into a neutral mood that didn’t fit.

And then we have The Potato Scale of Depression, born when I responded to “how are you” with “everything is mashed potatoes”. What I meant by that was that the world was dull, my senses felt mushy, and seeing past any of it felt impossible. The beauty of the potato scale is that it opens the door to describing your mood in a creative, silly way, while still communicating a serious topic. And, you get to have eye-opening conversations about how you and your conversation partner rank various types of fries. Of course, this is an abridged version of the scale; there’s a whole world of poorly-prepared potato dishes to choose from. (Soggy latkes, undercooked gnocci, etc.)