Graduating with a Bachelor
Psychology Today blog: Bipolar You
by Russ Federman, Ph.D., ABPP
...I currently lead a university support group for bipolar students. There are nine students who regularly attend the weekly group. All but three of them (two being graduate students) have encountered intermittent academic delays as a result of their bipolar symptoms.
The painful part of this picture is that those who do need extra time for their progression towards a degree frequently feel guilty and ashamed as a function of their delay. They struggle with a sense of inadequacy. It's as if there's something wrong with them; they're flawed...
I can assure you that by age 43 you won't be looking back and lamenting the fact that it took you one or two years longer than expected to complete your college education. In fact, at some point the extra time truly becomes irrelevant. It's all just part of this nonlinear journey we call life.
So if you are about to graduate and it is your fifth, sixth or even seventh year of enrollment, congratulations! You did do it. You weren't derailed to the extent that you relinquished your goal. You kept on, even though it was a long haul. In the long run, your determination and perseverance will serve you just as well as anything else that your neurotypical peers may be able to boast about!
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Russ Federman is Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Virginia. He is also co-author of Facing Bipolar: The Young Adults Guide to Dealing with Bipolar Disorder (New Harbinger Publications), see www.BipolarYoungAdult.com
Psychology Today blog: Bipolar You
by Russ Federman, Ph.D., ABPP
...I currently lead a university support group for bipolar students. There are nine students who regularly attend the weekly group. All but three of them (two being graduate students) have encountered intermittent academic delays as a result of their bipolar symptoms.
The painful part of this picture is that those who do need extra time for their progression towards a degree frequently feel guilty and ashamed as a function of their delay. They struggle with a sense of inadequacy. It's as if there's something wrong with them; they're flawed...
I can assure you that by age 43 you won't be looking back and lamenting the fact that it took you one or two years longer than expected to complete your college education. In fact, at some point the extra time truly becomes irrelevant. It's all just part of this nonlinear journey we call life.
So if you are about to graduate and it is your fifth, sixth or even seventh year of enrollment, congratulations! You did do it. You weren't derailed to the extent that you relinquished your goal. You kept on, even though it was a long haul. In the long run, your determination and perseverance will serve you just as well as anything else that your neurotypical peers may be able to boast about!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Russ Federman is Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Virginia. He is also co-author of Facing Bipolar: The Young Adults Guide to Dealing with Bipolar Disorder (New Harbinger Publications), see www.BipolarYoungAdult.com
