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Post-Bachelor's Education

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by Swamp56, Sep 21, 2009.

  1. Swamp56

    Swamp56 Guest

    I'm a freshman pursuing my B.A. in Psychology at the moment. I am enrolled in the pre-medicine program at my university and have had a goal to get into medical school for a long time now. I have no doubts of my cognitive ability to achieve this, but there is something else lingering in the way.

    What is it? Mental illness. You see, what makes getting a doctorate of medicine so hard is the tremendous amount of work required not not only get into the medical school, but also the grueling work you must apply yourself with during the schooling process. I am seriously mentally ill, and I'm starting to question my ability to handle the stress that is associated with the successful and total completion of the program.

    As much as this breaks my heart, I'm trying to think rationally here (a trait that does not come naturally to me as you all know w/o medicine). I am trying to look at the alternatives at the moment. There is in no way in hell that I'm not doing a doctorate program, it's just what.

    So far I, besides the doctor of medicine, I seem interested in a doctorate of philosophy (ph.D.) in either clinical psychology or neuropsychology. I also have looked at the doctorate of psychology in clinical care (Psy.D.).

    Some of you may say, "Chris, you're looking too far into the future." I'm not. If I want to seriously consider medical school, I must start classes next semester that are pre-reqs for the program and for medical schools in general (general, inorganic, organic chemistry - biology - physics - calculus).

    I am just wondering what your opinions are as to this. My life dream is to be a medical doctor, although I must take into account that I have a weakness that is exploited by extremely stressful behavior; I don't want to end up with a more severe form of schizophrenia than I already have due to stressing myself out so much.

    It's just a bit confusing. My main interests include abnormal psychology, and specifically the functioning of psychotic disorders and their treatment with dopamine-receptor antagonistic medication. I am also interested in the functions of how psychotropic medications work as a whole (like how SSRI's work by selectively blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the presynaptic axon terminals/vesicles, thereby allowing for more serotonin to flow to the next neuron).
     
    #1 Swamp56, Sep 21, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 21, 2009