Making It Through College With A Mental Illness

Many people who are in treatment for their mental illness are encouraged to pursue higher education. With this in mind, recently, I recounted my struggle with juggling paranoid schizophrenia and actively pursuing a Master's degree in library science. The people at Yahoo! were good enough to publish my personal story of achievement in the face of severe mental illness in their directory of well over one million websites. And I am reaching about four hundred people each month with my story.

I have already received e-mails from people that say that this account of "making it" through college despite having a mental illness gives them hope that they too can succeed at their goal of making it through college. This has been very satisfying for me that I've been a small help to someone going though what I already have gone through.

So, what's in the book; and how do I get to it? Well, if you go to www.yahoo.com and type in the search box "kd3qc" without the quotes a link to my page will be prominently displayed on your screen. And best of all, it's free since I posted it using geocities.com. The book is a montage of stories and practical advice of what to do and what not to do while pursuing a college education. Social activities and academic activities are covered. The book is written with the person who has mental illness in mind; however, family members and mental health professionals also can benefit from reading this book. The book is broken up into six chapters titled: Preparing and financing for an education, Your First Day of Class, Your First Semester, What happens when you are re-hospitalized during school?, The saga continues, and Graduation!

I don't want to give away too many of the big secrets of the book, because then you wouldn't read it! However, here is a taste of the book from the chapter titled The Saga Continues: "After your first semester, the thing is that you need to keep your momentum going and not slack off in classes. The question arises: 'How do I avoid burning myself out?' The answer to that is simple, yet complex. The simple part is that you need to keep choosing subjects that are interesting to you. Selecting subjects you wouldn't mind studying is your best bet to long-term success in your academics. Your worst mistake would be to choose a lot of math courses if you can't stand numbers. No matter how driven you are, that is a sure way of dampening your resolve.

"Usually, college will take a full time student four years to complete. That means for four years of your life you need to be psyched about what you are studying and keeping focused on the end result. For people with a mental illness it could take much longer than the four years. That's ok though. Just getting a college degree is a major milestone in a healthy person's life. How much more sweet is it to the person with the mental disability! It is telling the mental disability, 'You do not own me! I am greater than you are!' It is an affirmation of self that should not be forgotten."

And that is the thought with which I'd like to end. Finishing college for a person with a mental illness is an affirmation of will overcoming this great burden. If you can get through college with a mental illness, it means that the mental illness doesn't own you. You are bigger than your mental handicap!