New Vet Students: A question about depression??

[AniSci]

For all the new(er) vet students who still remember undergrad (whatever your major was), the odds are you suffered some sort of depression during those years.

I've also heard a lot of stories about depression in vet school, from the stress and anxiety students face.

Right now, I'm a senior animal science major (while of course fulfilling the prereqs for vet school) and by now all my gen-eds have been taken care of so I'm getting a hefty dose of (what seems like) a bunch of difficult, time-consuming, demanding classes that will most likely only teach me a couple of basic, generalized concepts that I will carry over into vet school/my career. And some of them I know I'm literally going to use nothing from them, and those are the ones that seem to be filled with a ton of busy work that takes up a ton of my precious time that I really should be using to study for the other harder classees. -_-

I KNOW vet school is no cake walk; it's demanding, challenging, and a huge teacher of time-management and balance. But, on the other hand, it's also (mostly) full of concepts and things that people like us WANT to be learning---it's composed soley of animals and is concerned with the health and well-being of them. It doesn't involve concentrated classes of calculus, organic, physics, etc., etc.. So in a way, it's easier, supposedly.

ANYWAY, I'm just trying to get a feel for if the depression and misery I've been dealing with the past two years will be any different from the "depression" I'll probably deal with in vet school. And I'm NOT saying that what I'm doing then will make me depressed; just going through the schooling will be depressing lol! When I see it done, like in the clinic, it still just blows my mind and I get all emotional and excited. I don't want to do anything else, and if being miserable for a few years is what it takes to get that...by all means, sign me up.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[chickenlittle]

In vet school, I found that it was easier to make close friends since we were all together all day... and therefore I had more of a social life. From that standpoint, vet school was a lot more fun for me than undergrad. (I was kind of a loner in undergrad - went home to a long-distance boyfriend every weekend, but had no real social life at school aside from hanging out and watching TV with my roommate.)

Academically, I found vet school to be a lot less enjoyable than undergrad. I liked the variety of undergrad - even if you had a semester packed with science/math courses, there's a difference between calculus, organic, and physics. In vet school, it was all memorizing anatomy & physiology all the time. I hated it. I never found it to be excessively HARD (as long as I put in the endless hours of required memorization), but it was incredibly boring and tedious and I missed actually having occasional opportunities for problem solving, creative thinking, etc.

 

[SocialStigma]

Vet school has definitely been more stressful than undergrad for me, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I am pursuing an internship and residency though, so I feel a lot of pressure to maintain a high GPA/class rank. Plenty of my classmates find that there's less pressure to do well academically in vet school (compared to undergrad) because they are going into general practice and all they need to do is pass.

I have been fortunate enough to never have suffered from depression/anxiety disorders, and overall I enjoyed vet school more than undergrad because I'm learning material that (for the most part) I will actually use/need in my future career. I'm also a happy person in general. I would say I was only truly miserable during final exams in 3rd year due to the sheer amount of material we had to study. But even then it was nothing that talking to my boyfriend/family/friends couldn't fix.

 

[Coquette22]

I think it really depends on what's causing your depression. I struggled with depression in undergrad, but it was due to social anxiety and having a hard time making friends (a huge carry-over from high school). In vet school, that's been non-existent. I have more friends now then I have at any other point in my life and they're all amazing people. Sure, I've been stressed during exam periods and I've had my moments of "ARGH! I CAN'T ****ING DEAL!" but I take a step back, and they're just that, moments, and they end. I had did have a depressed period in first year, but that was due to a lousy living situation (bad roommate) and my dad dying. It's hard to say how vet school will affect any one person, but it's important to identify your triggers and your coping mechanisms.

 

[Caia]

I think it's important to realize yourself when you're in a depressive period as well as understanding that the stress of vet school will likely make any underlying problems or factors that much worse.

Self-awareness is really the most important part as it allows you to recognize when there's a problem and to seek the appropriate help.

 

[lei325]

If you've been dealing with depression for the past two years, it might be time to seek out counseling (if you haven't already). It doesn't get any easier in vet school. My undergraduate experience was vastly different than my vet school experience; I was more stressed out and and more anxiety with exams and rotations than I ever experienced in undergrad. Also, you have to think about what you go through as a vet, too. You'll deal with a lot of stress from clients and with patients. Caia is right; figure out what the causative agent of your depression is now so you can learn how to cope and overcome it before you start vet school.

 

[twelvetigers]

If you think loving what you are learning will make vet school classes bearable where undergrad was not, don't. You just realize that there is still a lot that you aren't that interested in, and it's overwhelming and annoying and honestly... worse than undergrad by a fair amount, IMO.

If you have problems, deal with them now, because the everything else will not get easier.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[DVMDream]

If you think loving what you are learning will make vet school classes bearable where undergrad was not, don't. You just realize that there is still a lot that you aren't that interested in, and it's overwhelming and annoying and honestly... worse than undergrad by a fair amount, IMO.

If you have problems, deal with them now, because the everything else will not get easier.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I agree with this. You need to deal with the problems you are having now, my advice would actually be to hold off on vet school if you are feeling as badly as you are constantly posting that you are. Not saying that to be mean, but you need to put yourself and mental well-being first. Vet school is a beeotch (for lack of a better word), you shouldn't go into vet school with the mindset that it will make your problems go away, because it most likely won't and is very likely to make them worse. The last thing you want to do is go to vet school with this still frustrated/depressed mindset and have all of that exacerbate to the point that you can't pass or that you hate it and drop out (I know you don't ever see this happening but it is a very good possibility).

 

[Squeaksmom]

For all the new(er) vet students who still remember undergrad (whatever your major was), the odds are you suffered some sort of depression during those years.

This seems to imply an assumption that almost everyone in undergrad is justifiably depressed. This mindset worries me! If you see depression everywhere you look, that tells me that you're probably not in a good place mentally. I agree with what's already been said -- you need to get this sorted before vet school! I'm not going to try to explain what vet school is like, since I don't think I'd do a good job of it, but please trust us that you want to be as mentally stable as possible before going in. If you aren't, vet school is that last thing that's likely to fix it!

 

[that redhead]

Find a way to deal with your depression before going to vet school. I like vet school and I still find it to be overwhelming and emotionally draining at times. I can't imagine having to struggle through it with depression, although I know people do. (And yes, I found the material to be so much more enjoyable, applicable and oftentimes exciting than that in undergrad. But you'd be surprised at how little that can compensate for the sheer volume of material, demands of the education, etc.)

I've noticed you're posting a lot of these threads trying to prepare yourself for vet school before even having applied. I encourage you to take a step back, take a deep breath and focus on what you're doing now. Looking ahead to the mythical vet school while slogging through the trenches of pre-reqs only serves to elevate it further on a pedestal to which it almost certainly cannot live up to. Just like celebrities are real people, vet school is just more school even if it is slightly more enjoyable than undergrad in some ways.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Ok, are we talking clinical depression here or just frustration/sadness/etc due to scholastic workload? They are not the same thing and require different approaches.

The fact that the OP assumes that most undergrads experienced" some sort of depression" indicates that she is referring to the latter, not the former (most undergrads are not clinically depressed). I think the advice she is seeking is based more around general stress coping mechanisms.

 

[Squeaksmom]

I've worked in human medicine for almost 10 years. In my world "depression" is a medical term with a specific definition. It has nothing to do with frustration due to workload. I honestly sometimes forget that people use it colloquially to mean something very different. Sorry for any misunderstanding on my part.

 

[LetItSnow]

But, on the other hand, it's also (mostly) full of concepts and things that people like us WANT to be learning---it's composed soley of animals and is concerned with the health and well-being of them. It doesn't involve concentrated classes of calculus, organic, physics, etc., etc.. So in a way, it's easier, supposedly.

Except - as current vet students have already pointed out of you - that's not really the case. It's not full of concepts and things most of us want to be learning. It's stuff you should learn, and need to in order to pass boards. But it's largely stuff that won't interest you. And you'll likely find yourself saying "ugh..... Why I'm I learning this? I don't want to practice on <insert species>."

In terms of pure enjoyment, I enjoyed my undergrad classes far more. The material was more varied, was widely applicable, and the load was light-years easier to manage for me.

 

[DVMDream]

Except - as current vet students have already pointed out of you - that's not really the case. It's not full of concepts and things most of us want to be learning. It's stuff you should learn, and need to in order to pass boards. But it's largely stuff that won't interest you. And you'll likely find yourself saying "ugh..... Why I'm I learning this? I don't want to practice on <insert species>."

In terms of pure enjoyment, I enjoyed my undergrad classes far more. The material was more varied, was widely applicable, and the load was light-years easier to manage for me.

You have a goat farmer with a milking operation who is having issues with Johne's disease in the herd, construct a plan and timeline to eradicate the disease from the herd......

Me: *don't care, kill ALL the goats, start over with new ones*

 

[NStarz]

You have a goat farmer with a milking operation who is having issues with Johne's disease in the herd, construct a plan and timeline to eradicate the disease from the herd......

Me: *don't care, kill ALL the goats, start over with new ones*

NOOOOO I LOVE GOATS. If it were cows...okay kill the cows.

 

[WildZoo]

NOOOOO I LOVE GOATS. If it were cows...okay kill the cows.

And then eat them

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I like goats AND cows. If it were horses...go for it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I've worked in human medicine for almost 10 years. In my world "depression" is a medical term with a specific definition. It has nothing to do with frustration due to workload. I honestly sometimes forget that people use it colloquially to mean something very different. Sorry for any misunderstanding on my part.

No, no, you're in the right. I got the impression the OP was using the term colloquially and people's replies were inconsistent because some though she was serious. That's why I mentioned it. As someone with more experience than I'd like with the matter, I'm very sensitive to when people throw the term around.

 

[DVMDream]

I like goats AND cows. If it were horses...go for it.

But if I kill all the goats I can send them to you for necropsy to identify how many had Johne's disease.....

 

[DVMDream]

No, no, you're in the right. I got the impression the OP was using the term colloquially and people's replies were inconsistent because some though she was serious. That's why I mentioned it. As someone with more experience than I'd like with the matter, I'm very sensitive to when people throw the term around.

To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if the OP had not only frustration with schoolwork but also a baseline depression as well. Just some of the things she has posted and mentioned, it would not surprise me. Which is why I suggested she maybe get the "depression/frustration" feeling figured out prior to vet school...

 

[Gemgrrrl]

If you love the veterinary field, don't avoid it because it might be filled with annoyances. Life in general is filled with annoyances, it doesn't matter what job you pick. At least you'll be doing something you love while dealing with it.

 

[lailanni]

Life in general is filled with annoyances, it doesn't matter what job you pick. At least you'll be doing something you love while dealing with it.

But if you're genuinely depressed, it may not be a good environment. (At least in private practice when you see things die constantly and have to deal with the scummy aspect of the general public.) If you don't have a healthy emotional way of dealing with things it can be a rough place. Even if you're not clinically depressed it can be rough.

I was a lot less emotionally exhausted when I worked in a bakery; if anything died there it was just a burnt batch of cookies

A bad day at the clinic is telling an old man that his late wife's dog has cancer and will pass away soon - his only companion and living link to his wife. And then getting harassed by the BMW driver for a rabies vaccine cost. And then putting to sleep a hit by car dog with a crying family in the room... Even at your best this is a job that will emotionally punch you. If you're already dealing with clinical depression it would be best to feel sorted out before jumping into this kind of thing.

 

[Gemgrrrl]

But if you're genuinely depressed, it may not be a good environment. (At least in private practice when you see things die constantly and have to deal with the scummy aspect of the general public.) If you don't have a healthy emotional way of dealing with things it can be a rough place. Even if you're not clinically depressed it can be rough.

I was a lot less emotionally exhausted when I worked in a bakery; if anything died there it was just a burnt batch of cookies

A bad day at the clinic is telling an old man that his late wife's dog has cancer and will pass away soon - his only companion and living link to his wife. And then getting harassed by the BMW driver for a rabies vaccine cost. And then putting to sleep a hit by car dog with a crying family in the room... Even at your best this is a job that will emotionally punch you. If you're already dealing with clinical depression it would be best to feel sorted out before jumping into this kind of thing.

Yes, I totally agree. I was just responding to the things that AniSci found depressing about her undergrad - which was difficult classes that don't seem to matter. I didn't see that she said anything about being truly depressed. I read it more as a "this stuff totally sucks, and doesn't even matter, so why do I have to waste my time on it" kind of thing.

 

[DVMDream]

I was a lot less emotionally exhausted when I worked in a bakery; if anything died there it was just a burnt batch of cookies

 

[Gemgrrrl]

I just read this article about depression in the veterinary/animal care field, which was written shortly after the death of Dr. Sophia Yin. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-jane-grossman/the-legacy-and-tragedy-of_b_5927396.html

It's a great article, and a touching eulogy to Dr. Yin, and has links to other good articles and information as well. While reading it, I was reminded of this thread. I wanted to share a quote from the article, which I thought was beautiful and touching and something to think about when it all just seems like too much:

"Today I saw an article about brine shrimp and how they affect the currents of the oceans. Each brine shrimp is insignificant and tiny, but together their movement is so strong it affects the currents. That's how we can be. Do your part, little shrimp. Keep on. We are changing the tides."

AniSci WhtsThFrequency lailanni