Therapy instead of College?

blinkwink

Am a 20 year old male going into his last year of college and have mental health issues. After a period of instense therapy It has been recommended to me that I should do more of the therapy but it will take place when college begins and will last several weeks.

It's my last year, I need to do well. However, I want to get well too. I'am torn.

Any insights?
Thanks.

Ursus Horribilis

I'm not sure any of us are qualified to give you advice about this. Have you asked your therapist what they think?

judeboy101

Look into college policy of referring final year due to ill health then your choices might be clearer. Best of luck, OP.

blinkwink

judeboy101 wrote: »

Look into college policy of referring final year due to ill health then your choices might be clearer. Best of luck, OP.

I don't believe deferring is gonna do me any good, well about from improving health. I have done lots of therapy in the past and just needed this to get some extra help, but it's come to a stage where I know the theory and I have an idea how to make myself better.

Thanks for the reply but I don't think this is an ideal option.

blinkwink

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

I'm not sure any of us are qualified to give you advice about this. Have you asked your therapist what they think?

I'll have to ask a few people for opinions. I suppose what I'm looking for here is some perspective of treating an illness vs. finishing college etc.

Pelvis

What's stopping you doing both?

Ursus Horribilis

blinkwink wrote: »

I'll have to ask a few people for opinions. I suppose what I'm looking for here is some perspective of treating an illness vs. finishing college etc.

It's hard to judge because we don't know what the therapy will entail and what effect it will have on you.

blinkwink

Pelvis wrote: »

What's stopping you doing both?

It's just that I'm gonna be missing days tbh and the fact that it's my final year, i need to knuckle down.

Also I don't think my folks are up for it

blinkwink

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

It's hard to judge because we don't know what the therapy will entail and what effect it will have on you.

I don't want to go into great detail here because of anonymity but the therapy will would be several full days a week spanning over 5-6 weeks.

It's CBT btw and I expect it would be better than being my own therapist

Ursus Horribilis

That's quite a lot of missed time from your course. Having said that, we don't know what it is you're studying (no need to tell us) and whether you'll be able to work in your own time and not lose touch with the class. Perhaps it would help if you found out some facts? Such as if you can defer on health grounds, what accommodations there are in your college for medical issues and what the people running the course think. Maybe then it might be easier to make an informed decision?

blinkwink

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

That's quite a lot of missed time from your course. Having said that, we don't know what it is you're studying (no need to tell us) and whether you'll be able to work in your own time and not lose touch with the class. Perhaps it would help if you found out some facts? Such as if you can defer on health grounds, what accommodations there are in your college for medical issues and what the people running the course think. Maybe then it might be easier to make an informed decision?

Yeah it's a course with a pretty large workload and I have a project to do as well. A compromise I think is the most benefitial and realistic option. I still get help, but I also get to focus on my work.

LegacyUser

Who is it that recommended it to you? Be sure you're not being taken advantage of while vulnerable. Your college should have access to counsellors for free that fit around your studies.

Airyfairy12

You can get a note from your doctor and therapist to give to your tutors, if its only for 7 weeks you can do both. Once your tutors are aware youre missing time due to health issues it will be taken into consideration and it shouldnt affect your grades.

LegacyUser

Hi there

can you not do both in that you could do CBT on a Friday evening after classes or at the weekend? Is there a college counselor or a local CBT person you could attend to? A lot of therapists will help you find someone locally if they are half decent. I have been in a similar position and I managed to do both!

Thanks

RoebuckWilson

I would also get in touch with the course coordinator. They're on your side without a doubt. If you could make an appointment or drop in and have a chat to have them in the loop. From my own experiences, colleges are very helpful around mental health issues, particularly to final year students. It's an intense year and they want to get the best result possible. There may be leeway with regard to deadlines or Assessment Weighting

Tenigate

Hi Op. It's great you've already done therapy at your age. It will make a huge difference to your happiness in future.

Straight away I noticed you're expecting an intense year in which you have to "knuckle down". Why not a year in which you do your best ("Good enough is good enough"), cultivate a good work-life balance, and not fall into black/white, all/nothing thinking that causes unhappiness.

The fact that you're thinking you have to chose counselling OR college... how about a decent 9-5 of college (Monday-Saturday if necessary) AND time to socialise and relax doing things you enjoy AND an hour a week of counselling that will arm you with a good plan of attack for keeping on top of course work, budgeting your hours, avoiding health-damaging all-nighters and establishing boundaries with team-members of group projects? Surely this is the ideal time to learn those life skills?

Truth be told op, it doesn't "get any easier". If you wear yourself out this year busting yourself for first class honours, you'll bust yourself job-hunting, then you'll bust yourself when you start the job trying to live up to the piece of paper that says how excellent you are. I just think it's an awful lot of pressure to put on yourself. Do the course, do your best, and yes, keep an eye on your mental health.

Nichololas

I think it's a bit silly to skip a year of college for 7 weeks of therapy.

In my experience Universities have been pretty accommodating about health issues and workarounds, and if you explain it to your course coordinator you'll most likely find a sympathetic ear.

Final year of university can be pretty tough relative to previous years, but from experience and observation most students simply make it harder for themselves by trying to balance a heavy social life with coursework, and end up leaving everything til the last couple of months then worrying themselves sick trying to get everything done in time. Of course some courses are trickier than others, and a project may require continual work throughout the year, but truth be told if you're not out partying 4 nights a week, work consistently and are keeping tabs on physical and mental health then it's not all that difficult. (This is something I only really discovered in postgrad.)

Good luck!

Permabear

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Psychologeeee

I would suggest you find another therapist that meets your needs better. By the way, that sounds unusually long for a CBT intervention.

Garrett81

blinkwink wrote: »

Am a 20 year old male going into his last year of college and have mental health issues. After a period of instense therapy It has been recommended to me that I should do more of the therapy but it will take place when college begins and will last several weeks.

It's my last year, I need to do well. However, I want to get well too. I'am torn.

Any insights?
Thanks.

From my experience therapy and self development is like a bottomless pit, there will always be more to discover, and next year there will be properly something else,. Don't be putting life on hold it's a part of the process but what I found helpful I cut my therapy back from weekly to Every 2 weeks or sometimes once a month, and I always got an appointment on a mill Friday as I would be off weekends and it gave me time and space to process stuff.

Best of luck

Hi OP,

You should consider talking to the college counsellors and the college student services (they might be separate to the student union). Tell them about your situation and ask about what they could do for you.

All colleges understand that a student's mental health and general health should always come first. And the reality is that if they advise you to defer your last year, it isn't the end of the world. You're young - an extra year or two won't add much. The truth is that if you're struggling with going into your last year and it being such a big year, I would personally feel you're ill-equipped with dealing with the realities of the big world after college.

I don't mean that in any offense.

Differ your place. Get the help you need. It'll be annoying and an impediment in the shortrun, but you'll be thanking yourself in the longrun.

Don't listen to me though - speak to the college counsellors and student services; they're likely trained in how to deal with this. These are the only people you should realisitcally listen to. If you're confounded about your options - get a second opinion from those qualified to do so.