While some medical conditions may be difficult for practicing doctors to have - would a diagnosis of bipolar disorder be particularly damming?
What areas might be good for such a person, psychiatry perhaps?
Wow 270+ people looked and no one replied - is the question THAT taboo or is this a idgaf question?
Medical school is challenging for every one, we all have our strengths and weaknesses and it is important to know where you are at with your struggles in life - If you think your mental illness may prove a problem, then look honestly at this and ask yourself if you can work in such a field with long hours and odd schedules.
Best wishes,
Me
I don’t recall seeing this question earlier so I’ll bite.
Given that Physicians have the highest rate of drug abuse over any other profession, the concern adcoms would have in admitting a student with ANY mental health issues should be somewhat understandable.
The fact that you had to answer your own question is proof that yes, mental illness IS taboo in the medical profession. Actually, it’s taboo in American society hence the problems some cites see with high levels of homelessness, incarnation, ect…
Tough question. I suppose if it’s well controlled and wouldn’t impact one’s ability to provide every patient the best care possible, then it’s not damning. To me, being “normal” through the use of meds is equivalent to being “normal” without them as long as the underlying disease is fully controlled when it needs to be (ie during all patient encounters).
As part of the application process, you do have to verify that you are capable of meeting the technical capabilities and competencies required of the school/profession. It’d be on the individual to look at their own situation to determine if they can honestly answer the question.
I’m not one to tell anyone that they CAN’T do something, but political correctness aside, we are all not created equal in all aspects (ref IQ, personality, strength, genetics, etc), and some people may not be the best fit for a given job. its definitely individual/case specific.
I see there being two issues here:
- Are you capable of fulfilling the demands of medicine, given your diagnosis?
and
- Will other people think you are (or are not)?
Only you can answer the first question. This depends on your stability. I have known people with a bipolar diagnosis. They had varying levels of functionality, from seeming completey normal to those who didn’t know, to being completely debilitated and actually receiving disability income.
As for the second question, you have some control here, as to who you tell. (Unless, of course, your illness DOES really affect your ability to be a physician.) There have been questions here on OPM, for example, about whether it’s advisable to reveal this sort of thing in your medical school application. As in, talking about mental illness in answering the “greatest obstacle overcome” question. Personally, I don’t think that’s wise, but that’s my perspective. Mental illness unfortunately has a huge stigma in our country, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
Regarding areas of specialty – I think it would depend on what you’re interested in. I don’t see it having to be psychiatry, even though you may have personal experience there.
My thoughts …
Hi! Yea I too have pondered this question since I was diagnosed with ADHD and we all know what kind of stigma that causes concerning the medications used for treatment. The problem is that some schools don’t mind and are open while others not so much.It is a hard battle to choose since in my case it has drastically affected my gpa in the earlier years so it would give light to the fact that I am not incompetent in terms of learning the material but rather suffered from a learning disability that has hindered me from my full potential for so many years. Just my thoughts though.