Who am I?

[makhums]

graduate student in a PhD program who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2019 and has had anxiety and depression associated to that. Taking antidepressants and calming medicine. Trying to figure out how to keep it together as the accident affected my focus/concentration levels making grad school life challenging. Would appreciate any guidance on what has helped/worked for others.

[b1b1b1]

You deserve all credit for tackling a Phd program after what you have gone through. It is good that you are also taking medication and, I assume, under the care of a psychiatrist. My suggestion is to take as much time as you are allowed to complete the program. Also, I would make sure your advisor knows of your condition.

[makhums in reply to b1b1b1]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. My department is aware of my condition as I had to take some time off following the accident and also needed to have some accommodations put in place for a while. I have been extended to have an extra year that will be funded but will check in on further extensions. I’m seeing both a psychiatrist and a therapist but my dosage keeps going higher which makes me feel like this might just be an indication of my never really getting better and having to learn to adjust to my current situation I guess. I think I mostly struggle with feeling like I’m no longer good at stuff as I used to be and maybe need to work on learning long-term coping strategies.

[b1b1b1 in reply to makhums]

You might ask your psychiatrist why your dose keeps increasing and whether this means you will never really get better. Learning long term coping strategies is always a good idea. I wonder what things you no longer feel you are good at. In order to be in a Phd program you must be quite good at some things. It may be that your focus and concentration, which you indicate have deteriorated, are being affected by the medication you are taking. I don't know too much about traumatic brain injuries, however I do know that, at least in the US, there are fairly long term programs to help people with such injuries.

It may be that you have to learn to be gentler on yourself, and appreciate how far you have come.

[makhums in reply to b1b1b1]

thank you so much for your continued response, I greatly appreciate your feedback as I find it helpful! I’ll bring this up at my next meeting with my psychiatrist and will work more on being gentle with myself!