Current PT Student, Contemplating everything. Advice needed.

As a current PT student, I have been through the same. I was/still am (but getting better) borderline depressed for the past couple of months due to things outside of school. The stress from school only made everything worse. I somehow managed to get by so far, but things kept getting worse until lately. Best advice I can give:

1: Speak to your professors and be open about what you are going through. It will make a huge difference because they will go out of their way to help you, without actually boosting your grades of course. 2: Keep seeing your therapist. Honestly for me, I went to the school counseling center and was finally able to vent. The therapist asked all the right questions. For me, I only went to my therapist a few times until I realized that I am not as bad as I think I am. After hearing yourself talk it out maybe it might click, but maybe not. Just talking to someone helps a lot, I PROMISE!

3: Speak to the head of your PT program, and let him/her know that you are being proactive about your situation. They will take this into consideration if anything does happen.

4: MOST IMPORTANT- create a goal for yourself. Something that is totally unrelated to school. It should not be about success in your classes or graduating PT school. It should be a personal goal of yours that you will try to achieve outside of school. For me it was working out. I want to try and be healthy again, lose weight, and get back into playing basketball. Working out may not be for you, but find that goal that you want to achieve. Trust me, this has helped me a lot! It helps me keep my mind off of school for some time during the day, and it helps me to plan my day out more efficiently. On top of that, my grades are looking better and I feel more confident in myself.

Another trick that I learned on my own was how to block out negative thoughts. This is hard to explain and hard to do. Whenever I am starting to think negative I seriously just begin mumbling to myself "block, block, block, block..." until I forget about that thought that I had. It's funny, but it works for me. The hardest part is actually catching yourself thinking negatively. Try to block out those thoughts. Only reason a thought even exists is because you give it life and power by meditating on it. Just "block" it!

No matter what, have faith in yourself. If you need anything, PM me.

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