Medical students and mental health

The view from the Faculty Support Office;

Medical students present with a range of conditions, both mental and physical in all years of the programme.

Some of the mental health conditions that our students currently present with are Generalised Anxiety Disorders, Eating disorders, Asperger’s, OCD, Bipolar disorder, Depression and PTSD.

Some of the physical health conditions that we are currently supporting are diabetes, epilepsy, prosthesis, arthritis, CFS, restricted mobility, hearing and sight impairment, asthma, MS and temporary disabilities such as fractures and musculoskeletal injuries etc.

We also have a number of students with Specific Learning Difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia.

These conditions range from mild through to moderate and severe.  Affected students develop a relationship with our pastoral team and receive regular personal support ongoing throughout the programme and also during periods of crisis.  Emma, the Faculty Student Advisor is in regular communication with individual students, to ensure mental and physical wellbeing, especially those who are particularly vulnerable or at risk.

Students disclosing a health condition or disability in their application, or for the first time after the start of the programme, are offered an opportunity to meet with a member of the pastoral support team.  Emma then often liaises with the Disability and Health Panel and Occupational Health and Disability Services teams in order to discuss support measures.

The Faculty holds a Disability and Health panel on a monthly basis in order to consider the support requirements of students.  Previously, some of the alternative arrangements and ‘reasonable adjustments’ that have been put in place to assist students in continuing with their studies are: extra time in examinations, a separate room for examinations, specialist equipment for examinations, placements local to personal therapeutic appointments, adjustment to unit timetable within an academic year to accommodate personal need and on programme support.

Emma also works with students by simply providing a listening ear when students’ health or personal problems get them down.  This is a confidential service, unless there is a requirement to share information to ensure student and patient safety.  This can often be part of a student’s network of support that may prevent a deterioration.  Advice is also given on absence and extenuating circumstances procedures and the GMC requirement for medical students to address their own health issues.

Lastly, short periods away from the programme, or an entire academic year, is a support measure that is often agreed.  It is very common for students to suspend studies in order to address health issues without the pressure of academic study.

For support contact med-support@bristol.ac.uk

 

 

When you hear the word ‘counselling’ what do you think of?

Two people in a room; one talking and the other just nodding and listening? 
Films have a lot to answer for, and for me that image conveys nothing of the aliveness of the relationship that counselling offers.

For instance, when was the last time that a friend or someone in your family really listened to your experience, without confusing it or comparing it with their own? 

The real trick of counselling is that it creates the circumstances that mean you can fully be yourself. By providing relational sounding boards and mirrors it allows you to see and hear the self you are in this moment. Sometimes someone else can see you changing when you can’t see it yourself.
Most people emerge from experiences of counselling feeling better than they did at the start, more able to function and on a positive trajectory in terms of their mental health, but the chances of this are much increased if they can come along with some openness to the process, some belief it could help in some way. This is one of the reasons we ask people to refer themselves, rather than being required to come: they need just a tiny bit of belief, and it can be just tiny.

The other surprise to some is that counselling is not just about two people in a room, in fact increasingly this is less and less so. The Student Counselling Service now offers about 300 students direct support each week and whilst some of them will be in individual appointments, most of these are either initial assessments to establish the best pattern of care for someone, one off follow ups to these meetings to support a person’s self help, 20 minute initial meetings to establish support choices, or 20 minute ‘Drop ins’ to offer immediate triage and signposting to support, or to help keep them on track with ‘Beating the Blues’ (our online CBT support programme). Even our regular sessions tend to be for fewer than 6 weeks.

Over 100 of the total seen are accessing our regular closed groups or coming just this week to an open group, or attending one of our workshops. And that’s without keeping a count of the number of people who use our resource library and website self help pages.

Because of the range of what we offer we registered over 1600 students last academic year, and so far this year we are experiencing a 20% increase on that. We can’t work with everyone but we have a number of useful contacts in the wider community of Bristol, so that no one needs to feel alone with their concerns.

And just one little plug for group work. If counselling helps you see aspects of yourself you can’t yet see , imagine what it might feel like if other students just like you provided the sounding board, or if someone in the group told a story that made you feel you were not the only one struggling with similar things. It is a powerful moment, and every group sees it, when someone says, ‘it’s such a relief…I thought it was just me’.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling/

 

Eating Your Heart Out

Many of us eat chocolate when we want a treat, or when we’re having a bad day – and where’s the harm in that? 

 

We don’t just eat for health; the fact is eating is one of life’s pleasures.  There’s no reason why we shouldn’t enjoy food or use it now and then to lift our spirits: as the saying goes, “all things in moderation.” The difficulty comes when comfort eating becomes our main way of dealing with upset. 

 

Comfort eating provides a distraction from difficult thoughts and negative emotions but when it’s our only way of coping it can easily get out of hand: a bar of chocolate or a slice of toast can be the trigger for a full on binge.  Many people who overeat like this say that whilst they’re bingeing everything else seems to stop: they feel in a world of their own where difficult thoughts and feelings can’t touch them.  It’s only afterwards that the distress returns, only when it does it’s made worse by uncomfortable bloating, concerns about weight gain, frustration, guilt and shame. 

 

Such negative feelings in the aftermath of a binge can erode self esteem and increase vulnerability to future stresses and from here it’s easy to see how a vicious cycle can develop: upset leading to binge eating and binge eating leading to greater vulnerability to future upset so making binge eating ever more likely.  Many specialists see such vicious cycles as being at the heart of eating disorders.

 

There’s no harm in eating for comfort now and then, but if you find yourself trapped in the vicious cycle then it can be useful to know that there are ways of breaking out.  Whilst many people can break out on their own and with the support of friends and family, some people will need professional help. 

 

If you are struggling to manage disordered eating then perhaps the Student’s Health Service can help.  The Service offers specialist support for people with eating disorders and many students have used it to turn their lives around.  If you think you might need specialist help then the first step is a visit to your doctor.  Whilst it can be embarrassing to talk about such problems, all our doctors are fully trained and highly experienced in working with people battling eating disorders.   they may refer you to the practice’s psychologist or on to a more specialised doctor. There’s no shame in seeking help: rest assured you’ll be treated in confidence, with respect and sensitivity.

www.b-eat.co.uk

 

 

“Home is the nicest word there is”

Homesickness

 

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.  ~John Ed Pearce, American Newspaper Editor/ political speech writer

Freshers’ week is over, the excitement has been countered by your course reading list, and reality is starting to have an impact…

New surroundings, new people, new accommodation, and in many cases a new climate, sometimes all in a new language! Home can seem a very long way away. For some people feeling homesick will briefly impact on their consciousness and then they’re off again, whirling through Bristol, eyes on their next challenge. For many people however, overcoming the homesickness IS the challenge.

Maybe this is a good time to reflect on the fact that with about 4000 new people all joining the university in the same week, those who feel homesick are unlikely to be alone in feeling this way. Certainly from where we sit, here at the Students’ Health Service, and in the experience of our colleagues in Student Counselling, and the Multifaith Chaplaincy, we know you are not alone in wishing that your nearest and dearest, and the comforts of home, were a little closer. We recognise how common an emotion this is and therefore we are here to help you deal with it and move onwards to enjoying your time at Bristol as much as you can. The Counselling Service run all sorts of groups and workshops throughout the academic year, with some specifically aimed at supporting people who are homesick. Look at their website for more information, and to book a place on them. And don’t forget that the Chaplaincy is for people of any faith AND none. You wont find a friendlier team providing soup lunches and support anywhere in the university!

My message for this blog is that you are not alone, and that we are all here at the Student Support Services ready to help and listen. It is better to seek advice early than to struggle on alone, we can help.

 A final thought on leaving home;

 “Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was.”
Jodi Picoult, author Handle With Care

 

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/chaplaincy/

 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling/

 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/students-health/