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A story about dealing with severe mental health issues and deviating from the societal standard of completing a degree in 4 years. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"9db0fbd0-ac33-4e46-b3e5-0f093b5e5196"},"title":"Mental Health and the Myth of the Four Year Degree by Anonymous"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

A standard undergraduate university degree is completed in four years. Or at least that is what we are told. So what happens when one cannot meet that expectation set out by society and maybe even family that you must complete your degree in four years? You are left feeling stupid and incompetent compared to everyone else that did finish their undergraduate degree in four years and you always have to defend yourself and justify why you did not or could not finish in four years despite the fact that there are a plethora of reasons as to why it may take someone longer to finish their \u201cfour year degree\u201d. For me, it was my mental health. I did really well in my first year of university, taking a full-time course load and successfully completing all of my courses. However, when I started my second year of university, my mental health started to decline and that took a serious hit to my academic progress.<\/p>\n\n

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is defined as a psychiatric disorder that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events such as but not limited to violence, sexual violence, rape, terrorist attacks etc. I was suffering from PTSD from an event that I was not a direct witness to but a terrible event that I had become aware of involving a girl named Junko Furuta (her story has been public and on the internet for years so I feel it\u2019s okay to say her name and in fact, we should remember her) who was repeatedly tortured, raped and eventually died so horrendously, not only did I feel the horror from my own sense of empathy for others but the injustice of the whole situation and its aftermath brought up bad memories from things that happened in my own life.<\/p>\n\n

I spent days and nights wallowing in depression and just not being able to get past it or past my own thoughts of physically harming myself to cope with the emotional pain. The horrible event that brought up these feelings was something that had already happened and unfortunately nothing could be done about it at this point in time because we do not possess a time machine that would allow us to go back and undo the wrong doings of the past. I felt constantly depressed and anxious and it only got worse with each passing day. It got to the point where I had to go see a doctor, a counsellor, and needed to be put on medication for depression. Needless to say, I could not focus on my school work during this time and I ended up passing none of my classes that semester. My life was a mess.
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I still suffer from depression and anxiety as I have for years, however, I have managed to overcome the episodes of PTSD and can now function in my day to day life again. What I did to help myself in that situation was seek counselling and also medical supports. I would encourage anyone who is suffering from such bad cases of depression to speak to a doctor about anti-depressant medication or mood stabilizers, as that is what I did and I believe the medication has helped me. Furthermore, I knew I needed to get my life together, Junko may not still be alive but I was alive and I needed to live and accomplish my goals. My goal was to graduate university and though I had fallen behind, I knew I needed to get back up and finish what I started. Besides the counselling and visits to the doctor, I sought out academic advice at school and I began taking a reduced course load so I would not stress myself out too much. I am now in my final year of university and hopefully graduating this year Inshallah. Yes, it\u2019s true, I was \u201csupposed\u201d to graduate last year but I fell behind due to mental health concerns. That\u2019s just life, things don\u2019t always go as planned. Yes, it hurts my self-esteem when I see people who started university at the same time as me and already graduated. It makes me feel stupid and slow and incompetent compared to others but that\u2019s not actually true. If you are someone in this situation, you need to understand that you are not the only one, you and I are not the only ones that are not finishing \u201con time\u201d and that\u2019s okay. You could be suffering from depression and mental health concerns, you could have been in an accident, you could be grieving over the loss of a family member or close friend and need to take time off for yourself. There are so many reasons why someone might not finish their degree in the four years it\u2019s \u201csupposed\u201d to take, and that\u2019s okay, you are an individual and you go at your own pace.<\/p>\n\n

After all, the myth of the four year degree is just that. A myth.<\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"de3db0f2-1575-49df-bfe1-974316d65450"},"title":"Finding a Solution"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

My final words to anyone in a similar situation that I was in is to know that if you need to take time off school for yourself, it\u2019s fine. Even if you failed a bunch of your classes for mental health reasons or other reasons, and now you\u2019re graduating later than your peers, it\u2019s okay. It doesn\u2019t mean you are stupid or incompetent if you graduate later. Not everyone will finish their \u201cfour year degree\u201d in four years, life is unpredictable, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen in any given moment, therefore it is normal for things to not always go as planned. And if you need to seek counselling and medical supports, do not be afraid to reach out and do so as that can also help tremendously. <\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"},"subContentId":"4065e7e3-d009-495f-9f9c-3301408dbaa6"},"title":"Final Thoughts"},{"content":{"params":{"text":"

Mental Health and the Myth of the Four Year Degree<\/em>. (2021, September 29). Liberated Learners. <\/span>https:\/\/wicked.liberatedlearner.ca\/learner\/mental-health-and-the-myth-of-the-four-year-degree\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n"},"library":"H5P.AdvancedText 1.1","subContentId":"a8d0fe31-00a9-4355-b947-36ac77777657","metadata":{"contentType":"Text","license":"U","title":"Untitled Text"}},"title":"APA Reference"}],"hTag":"h2"}

Mental Health and the Myth of the Four Year Degree

Liam Peart