Navigating University with Mental Illness

Navigating college with a mental illness can be extremely difficult, but it's definitely possible. In the fall, I will be starting my final year of university after being in college on and off for 6 years. When I began my college journey after taking a gap year between graduating high school and starting college, I was dealing with general anxiety and OCD symptoms that I was very used to by that point. Managing these symptoms while handling my course load was going all right, but as I moved through my classes and dealt with some family challenges, my anxiety increased. I established high expectations for myself academically, and in turn I was constantly stressed and struggling more to keep up with my work. Simultaneously, I was presenting early signs of Schizoaffective Disorder without knowing it. Over the next few years, I wasn't only dealing with my extremely compulsive behavior getting in the way of my academic success, but I was also experiencing severe mood fluctuation and the beginnings of psychosis.

Throughout this time, my school performance suffered, but I held on to my high standards. I developed some coping skills, and I reached out for help. I utilized my school's counseling services and eventually got myself into the care of a psychiatrist and personal therapist. Over the past 6 years, I have learned a lot about navigating the university system while having a mental illness. Here are my top tips.

Advocate for yourself

This is probably the most important thing to do in order to successfully make it through college with a mental illness. I can't believe how long it took me to speak up about what I was struggling with and begin receiving accommodations in my classes. I was worried that I wasn't deserving enough of the accommodations, or that they would give me an unfair advantage. I had an instructor once describe it as "leveling the playing field" and giving me the opportunity to show what I know. Signing up for accommodations was a game changer for me. My test anxiety decreased, my scores increased, and my grades overall improved. I spoke up for what I needed in order to succeed in my classes and was surprised by the difference it made.

Another piece of advocating for yourself is communicating with your professors and your academic advisor. This is tricky because it's really hard to gauge who you can trust and how much to disclose. I recommend disclosing about your illness on a case by case basis; not everyone needs to know the same amount of details about what you're struggling with. I've been extremely vague with some professors, saying that I manage a chronic illness that sometimes interferes with my school work and no more. I've felt much more safe and comfortable with other professors and have gone into some detail regarding my symptoms, so they have the most information possible to help me succeed. I would recommend sharing some details with your academic advisor if it feels safe, that way he or she can help you realistically plan your courses. This leads to my next tip.

Manage your expectations

This one is hard for me. I tend to think I am superwoman who doesn't need to rest or take breaks and that I can take on the heaviest allowable course load. As it turns out, I am not, and I can't. And that's okay. I've had quite a few opportunities to learn this lesson, but I still haven't mastered it. Spring semester 2021 I took 4 engineering classes and an upper division math class. This turned out to be too much stress for me, and I was hospitalized for a week in the middle of the semester. Other people were able to handle the same course load, but I have to remember that other people aren't dealing with the symptoms that I am. I'm learning that I can still hold myself to high standards, but I have to be realistic in my strategy to achieving my ambitious goals. When dealing with any mental illness, some days, weeks, or months are harder than others, and these hard times can seem to come out of nowhere. We have to prepare for them, and we have to be kind to ourselves when they come up.

Practice self compassion

Another hard one. Self care and self compassion are so important for everyone, but especially for those of us with mental illness. Try not to judge yourself when your symptoms are more present or affecting your ability to work as tirelessly as you want to some days. I often find my placing blame when things start to get bad, but this doesn't help relieve symptoms or make it easier to deal with them. In times like these I need to step back and implement some of my self care strategies. This can look like paying extra attention to my nutrition or taking a hot shower every day if I'm able. When I'm heading into crisis these tasks can seem nearly impossible, so I just do what I can. A big effort of self care for me is making sure I'm getting enough sleep. If I'm not consistently getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night, it's a sign that something may be going wrong.

An important step in maintaining self care and self compassion is setting boundaries. For example, I have a more demanding sleep schedule than a lot of my peers because if I start to lose sleep I can slip in to mania, so I have to stop working by 10:00 or 11:00 PM in order to get to bed. This can be hard to put my foot down about, and I haven't always been good about it in the past, but it makes a big difference. It can also be helpful, when working on a group project, to suggest to your teammates that you break up the work into smaller chunks of time. I've been in a few 8+ hour zoom meetings, and after a while I'm really not doing my best work anymore. Sometimes people might give you push-back about your needs, but generally they're facing their own challenges and are sympathetic to yours. Overall, being a student isn't easy, and everyone is just trying to get through. It's important to remember your strategies and resources that help increase your chance of success the most.