Depression.

[TTSD]

How many premeds here were treated for depression? If med schools screen for depression with troubled students, why don't undergraduate institutions do the same?

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[basupran]

I had no idea that med schools screened for depression....
exercise is one of the best cures for depression.

 

[KHep]

Does having been treated for depression greatly decrease your chances?

 

[Mr.Tweed]

I wouldn't recommend bringing it up in an essay or interview.

 

[TTSD]

Originally posted by KHep
Does having been treated for depression greatly decrease your chances?

I guess it depends. If you went on a spiral due to your significant other, it's certainly understandable. A lot of med students fail classes because of that, but I don't think it would an iota of favor or forgiveness towards you.

 

[SoulRFlare]

Originally posted by Mr.Tweed
I wouldn't recommend bringing it up in an essay or interview.

Dealing with depression has played a large part of my life, and it would have been worse than dishonest of me not to make this clear in my essay, as well as to my interviewers. clinical depression is a disease like diabetes, and i think that dealing with it has not only made me stronger, it has helped me to be more understanding of other people's problems and shortcomings.
BTW...I have had more than several interviews and have two acceptances, so I wouldn't say that my candor had cost me. had I been accepted after neglecting to tell them however, I would have felt that I'd been admitted under false pretenses.

 

[TTSD]

Originally posted by SoulRFlare
Dealing with depression has played a large part of my life, and it would have been worse than dishonest of me not to make this clear in my essay, as well as to my interviewers. clinical depression is a disease like diabetes, and i think that dealing with it has not only made me stronger, it has helped me to be more understanding of other people's problems and shortcomings.
BTW...I have had more than several interviews and have two acceptances, so I wouldn't say that my candor had cost me. had I been accepted after neglecting to tell them however, I would have felt that I'd been admitted under false pretenses.

See, I couldn't do that on my application. I didn't feel right doing so. I mean, I understand my depression came from a long history of family friction and family chronic illnesses and the fact that I was in driving distance (100 miles) and was expected to come whenever there was a problem (made for interesting night drives), among other things.

But I always felt, regardless of my personal health, that state of mind I should still be responsible enough to attend to my duties which will surely be asked, nay, DEMANDED of my as a doctor. So in that regard I felt as if I failed in my duty as a student and pre-med. That I should be able to take care of my problems and do my work dilligently at the same time.

Though on the other hand, it was a learning experience. It pushed me far and expanded my borders into the punishment I could take and still keep ticking. So if Med Schools actually invite me for an interview and ask about those grades, I will tell them, but I will also own up to it as a failure in my duty and point out my improvements the following years even when I was under duress.

 

[Anka]

While you might not get burned for it every time, I'd be careful about mentioning any history of mental illness, including depression. While these are illnesses like diabetes or sickle cell anemia, the medical profession is as backwards as it gets when it comes to mental illness among it's members. I'd like to hope that most members of our future profession will be accepting of properly treated mental illness, but it'll only take a few to really hurt your career badly.

And here's the logic they'll have: Mr. X wants to be a doctor, but has had a past history of depression. Now he's applying to a residency in my program. What if when someone starts dying he panics? [perhaps depression doesn't leave you at a higher risk of this, but ignorance doesn't often check statistics] What if the first time someone dies under his care, he falls into a depression and takes two weeks off... and leaves a hole in my schedule?

Remember, pregnancy is often seen as a liability. How are they gonna respond to a much misunderstood condition, a condition that is often confused with moral weakness?

TTSD -- totally admire your stance on this one.

Anka

 

[Sparkles]

So, is getting treated for depression a definite downfall for someone applying to medical school? Do they screen medical history?

 

[Anka]

If you are suffering from depression, you should definitly get treated for it. They aren't going to screen for it unless you raise red flags -- even then it's illegal to ask (it's just like any other disability). If you raise red flags, they might try to draw you out during your interview or have you interviewed by a psychiatrist (don't laugh, it really happens).

I just wouldn't advertise -- don't make your personal statement about overcoming depression (even though it's admirable).

Anka

 

[Mr.Tweed]

Of course they don't look at your medical history. That wouldn't be legal.

Now don't get me wrong, depression is a disease just like diabetes or heart disease. However, not everyone sees it this way. A potential employer (or ADCOM) has no need to know about your history of depression just like they have no need to know that you underwent knee surgery or were treated for asthma. In my opinion, it's just not relevant information.

 

[Anka]

Mr. Tweed has an excellent point. I wouldn't tell the adcom about *any* chronic disease -- if I had heart problems, sickle cell anemia, or four toes on my left foot I'd keep it to myself. Just ain't none o' their business.

 

[closertofine]

Me...(in answer to the original question about who has been treated for depression). But I made it through with good grades, although my involvement in extra-curricular activities and volunteer stuff did suffer to some extent.

Judging from my history, this seems like it will be an ongoing problem in my life... but I don't plan on mentioning it to adcoms because...well, honestly because I feel it's none of their business. It hasn't severely affected my performance in school so far, and I don't believe it would affect my judgment towards others and my ability to act compassionately.

Just out of curiosity, do you think the situation would be different if someone were diagnosed with bipolar disorder?

By the way, I agree that it would be illegal for med schools to screen for depression when making decisions about admissions...right?! Well, at least I've had a lot of experience talking to psychiatrists, so if my interviewer happens to be one as well, I'll be well prepared!

 

[Brickhouse]

I don't think someone with depression has any greater chance of being out due to illness than anyone else. It is both treatable and manageable, and many great people suffered from depression and made a huge positive contribution to this world. I have confidence that depression is not a reason to not go for the goal of becoming a physician. I think if you're depressed, you have an obligation to take care of yourself so you aren't affected in your work...but that goes for anyone who has any form of physical or mental impairment.

Originally posted by Anka
While you might not get burned for it every time, I'd be careful about mentioning any history of mental illness, including depression. While these are illnesses like diabetes or sickle cell anemia, the medical profession is as backwards as it gets when it comes to mental illness among it's members. I'd like to hope that most members of our future profession will be accepting of properly treated mental illness, but it'll only take a few to really hurt your career badly.

And here's the logic they'll have: Mr. X wants to be a doctor, but has had a past history of depression. Now he's applying to a residency in my program. What if when someone starts dying he panics? [perhaps depression doesn't leave you at a higher risk of this, but ignorance doesn't often check statistics] What if the first time someone dies under his care, he falls into a depression and takes two weeks off... and leaves a hole in my schedule?

Remember, pregnancy is often seen as a liability. How are they gonna respond to a much misunderstood condition, a condition that is often confused with moral weakness?

TTSD -- totally admire your stance on this one.

Anka

 

[closertofine]

On a related note, what would happen if a med student had to be hospitalized for depression? Would that be a negative mark on his or her record and play a part in determining residency?

After reading the rest of the posts and thinking about it for a minute, I do have to revise my original position...I admit that I do worry about the consequences of "hiding" my depression from the adcoms. I can see SoulRFlare's point that getting admitted without revealing this information might be an admission under false pretenses.

But then I know it's also true that other pre-meds have had other problems, e.g. drug abuse, eating disorders, etc...and I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to reveal all their "skeletons in the closet" when applying for med school.

Still, I know that depression will most likely be an issue for me in med school...and ideally, I would like to be accepted based on knowledge of my entire history, not just a happy face I put on. But I don't think that I would be accepted if I told the adcoms the extent of my problems.

Whew, way too much info...it's time for me to go to bed, I guess! Eight hours of data entry tomorrow (temp job), how fun...I can already feel the carpel tunnel syndrome setting in!

Karen44

 

[closertofine]

Originally posted by Brickhouse
I don't think someone with depression has any greater chance of being out due to illness than anyone else. It is both treatable and manageable, and many great people suffered from depression and made a huge positive contribution to this world. I have confidence that depression is not a reason to not go for the goal of becoming a physician. I think if you're depressed, you have an obligation to take care of yourself so you aren't affected in your work...but that goes for anyone who has any form of physical or mental impairment.

Thanks, Brickhouse, that made me feel a bit better about things.

 

[sunflower79]

My personal statement was partly about overcoming depression. I felt it was necessary because I needed to explain the course of my undergrad years, and I felt compelled to be honest. I think honesty was truly the best policy in my case, and I like to think it shows some guts and maturity. Clearly you shouldn't portray yourself as a pity case, and you have to write about this carefully and skillfully, but my thinking was that if a school doesn't like me for the whole person that I am, then I don't want to be there anyway.

Send me a PM if you wanna talk more about this...

peace
sunflower

 

[meanderson]

I would tend to stay away from talking about any battle with basic clinical depression. Now if it was depression due to some circumstance in your life that has been overcome, I think it would be a good idea to talk about it. How it made you stronger, etc. But depression is a clinical disease just like diabetes like another poster mentioned, and it would be a part of my medical history that I wouldn't have to share and wouldn't neccessarily want everyone to know. It's up to the individual though.

The problem with clinical depression(and anxiety, the two are related so often) is that treatments are often so hit or miss. There are drugs that work and we know they work, but they are addictive. Then there are drugs that certainly don't work as well as the addictive drugs, if they work at all for some people, but at least are safe.

Psychiatry is interesting to me. I don't think I'd want to enter it for a variety of reasons, but I'm fascinated by so many of the current issues for treating anxiety and depression. If a drug company ever developed a drug that works like a benzo(but isnt a benzo) with a short half-life(ie quick acting) without the addiction/dependance or withdrawl problems, the amount of $$$$$ they would make is unbelievable.

 

[SoulRFlare]

I agree that the issue of depression should be framed carefully. in posting, however, i wanted to make the point that depression isn't necessarily something that needs to be swept under the rug. In my own case for example, I decided to be up front for several reasons. Most importantly, I wanted to be honest. Not because I was afraid that the school would "find me out," but because truth is very important to me (I was a philosophy type in a former life, after all.) Depression has played a prominent role in my life, and for better or for worse, has made me who I am today.

At the same time, I needed to account for the inconsistencies in my early academic record -- "scars" that were directly related to a depressive episode.

The third reason is just around Robin's bend...I took a long and circuitous road to medical school, and when I look back, I absolutely marvel -- heck, if you had told me two years ago that I'd be accepted to med school before Christmas 2003, I would have politely recommended an extended weekend at Bellvue Resort and Spa...a career in medicine just wasn't on my radar.

So I guess I also see this as a "triumph over adversity" story, as corny as that sounds. Coming from a place of complete fear and uncertainty, I've demonstrated to myself that I'm capable of functioning at a very high level, whether depressed or otherwise a-ok (and there have been plenty of "dark winter nights of the soul" throughout the years) Learning that some of my favorite medical schools have confidence in me because of (or in spite of) my struggles has been an incredible affirmation.

 

[DannGee]

i agree with other posters in that i don't think anyone should feel compelled to reveal their mental illness (or any other illness) during the application process, but i certainly don't think that it's something that's "off-limits" in a personal statement or an interview, especially when it's relevant to your interest in medicine.

a large part of my essay was spent discussing my difficulties with drug abuse and depression following the suicide of a friend during high school. this was perhaps the most important event in terms of deciding i wanted to be a doctor rather than a journalist (or whatever else i may have otherwise decided to pursue). i honestly don't think i could have explained my motivation without mentioning it.

if you do decide to address these things during the process, however, realize that, ironically, these types of things are stigmatized in the medical profession as much or more than in other fields. thus, tone is of utmost importance when addressing these issues. i would caution against trying to use a mental illness to justify failing grades, however valid such an explanation may be- it just seems that it would be too easy to come across the wrong way. it would probably also be helpful to mention specific examples of you learned from the experience- in my case, it helped me to deal with another tragedy a couple of years later. some interviewers have remarked at the confidence i exuded when writing about this situation, and this probably has helped me to gain acceptance.

it's definitely a tricky thing to deal with- it might be best not to mention in your essay that you became depressed after breaking up with a significant other, which caused you to get that C in physics your sophomore year. but in a case where such an event shaped who you are (and who you want to become), I believe that, as long as you approach it from the proper perspective, it will make your essay/interview memorable and unique.

 

[KarateGirl]

SoulRFlare, I could have written your post (and almost did).

I wrote about my struggle with depression in my personal statement. I am completely open about it and don't feel it is anything to be ashamed of. It has been the most influential challenge of my life, and I think a lot of who I am is due to that. I don't think my essay would have reflected who I truly am if I had left it out. Plus, I needed to explain why my undergraduate GPA is much lower than my post-bacc.

I think it's all about how you portray your experience. If you make it sound like you're trying to come up with excuses for your failures, or if you make yourself out to be a victim, it could reflect badly. In my essay, I tried to show that having dealt with depression makes me more prepared for the rigors of med school than the average person. If and when I start to feel anxious or depressed, I can identify it quickly and get help, whereas other people with less experience with these problems might let it spiral out of control. I didn't mention it in my statement, but I still take meds to control it, and I will definitely stay on them during school. When I am on meds I am more capable than most people who've never even been depressed.

How to handle so-called skeletons in the closet is up to the individual. Just because I let the adcoms know about my experience doesn't mean everyone should. I do believe that like everything else, it's not what you say but how you say it. I really believe that I turned my illness into an asset, and if an adcom would penalize me for that then it's definitely not a school I'd want to go to.

 

[KarateGirl]

Oh, and another thing--if you do mention any negative experience in your application, it's key that you show that the issue is behind you and that it won't happen again. If there's any doubt that you might still be susceptible to that problem, then it could definitely be a mark against you.

 

[woolie]

Hey guys, here's a thread from the Allo site:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96952

It's interesting to read about depression from the side of already being in medical school. I think depression is just a natural part of life sometimes.

 

[MNgrrl]

Originally posted by Anka
If you raise red flags, they might try to draw you out during your interview or have you interviewed by a psychiatrist (don't laugh, it really happens).

Anka

I just got my interview itinerary from the University of MN for friday, and my interview is with a psychiatrist! Hope that wasn't on purpose!