Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing to you in hopes you will grant permission to drop my BIOL 403, Experimental Techniques in Biology, class. Since September, I have been taking a new medication to treat symptoms that my doctor believes are bipolar II, previously thought to be a borderline personality disorder. I have been doing well on the medication but was having difficulty concentrating in the past few months. On March 10th, I had a doctor's appointment where I explained that I was experiencing increased trouble focus to the point where it was affecting my academics in that it was hard for me to sit down and do work for extended periods. He suggested that I may have ADHD, which is common in people with bipolar, but did not think it was a good idea to prescribe any medication because stimulants can sometimes induce mania. Instead, he doubled my medication dose to try to improve my concentration issues. He also told me to book a follow-up appointment, which I did and was on April 12th. Before March 10th, I felt very overwhelmed, which I attributed to the stress of school and the beginning of the exam period. However, the weeks that followed March 10th until around April 18th have been some of the worst weeks, I've felt in the past eight months. During this time, I believed that I may have been in a depressive state and booked an appointment with a Queens Student Wellness councillor on April 5th, an appointment with my family physician on April 12th, and an appointment with a Queens' doctor on April 21st to see about getting a referral to a Queens psychiatrist. My Queens Student Wellness councillor referred me to an Empower Me program throughout Queens and suggested I try and start regular cognitive behavioural therapy.
I followed up with Empower Me and hope to start this therapy after the winter semester. During my appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I described what I was going through. He suggested I probably was undergoing a depressive state and should try and do what is suitable for my mental health. He told me if I thought my mental health would be compromised because of my schooling, I should take a break. He also said if I needed any documentation, he would provide it. I am currently in the process of obtaining that documentation. On the appointment on April 21st with the Queens doctor, I was referred to a psychiatrist and am waiting for a call for student wellness to set up an appointment. Currently, I am in a better state than before but am still suffering from depression and anxiety and am not feeling mentally stable. I have another doctor's appointment with my family physician on May 6th to reassess and find a plan to better treat my mental health issues better. Everything considered, I believe, because of my struggles with mental health, I have not achieved my full academic capability in my BIOL 403 class. I also had a tremendous amount of anxiety about coming to the BIOL 403 class because it was in person. I told my family physician how bad my anxiety was when coming to this class and how I would sometimes have anxiety attacks before coming. I have pushed myself this semester because I knew BIOL 403 is a challenging course, and I wanted to do well in it. However, the added pressure of constantly pushing myself in this course is causing me a great deal of stress on top of the already depressive state. I have completed five labs and will be completing the final exam today. Coming to the BIOL 403 class has been challenging because of how much anxiety I felt coming in and how unstable my mental health was. I have worked tremendously hard in all my other courses this semester, and I do not want my mark in BIOL 403 to take away from that. It would be greatly appreciated if I could drop this course late, given the circumstance.
Thank you,
Samantha Gillen
I am writing to you in hopes you will grant permission to drop my BIOL 403, Experimental Techniques in Biology, class. Since September, I have been taking a new medication to treat symptoms that my doctor believes are bipolar II, previously thought to be a borderline personality disorder. I have been doing well on the medication but was having difficulty concentrating in the past few months. On March 10th, I had a doctor's appointment where I explained that I was experiencing increased trouble focus to the point where it was affecting my academics in that it was hard for me to sit down and do work for extended periods. He suggested that I may have ADHD, which is common in people with bipolar, but did not think it was a good idea to prescribe any medication because stimulants can sometimes induce mania. Instead, he doubled my medication dose to try to improve my concentration issues. He also told me to book a follow-up appointment, which I did and was on April 12th. Before March 10th, I felt very overwhelmed, which I attributed to the stress of school and the beginning of the exam period. However, the weeks that followed March 10th until around April 18th have been some of the worst weeks, I've felt in the past eight months. During this time, I believed that I may have been in a depressive state and booked an appointment with a Queens Student Wellness councillor on April 5th, an appointment with my family physician on April 12th, and an appointment with a Queens' doctor on April 21st to see about getting a referral to a Queens psychiatrist. My Queens Student Wellness councillor referred me to an Empower Me program throughout Queens and suggested I try and start regular cognitive behavioural therapy.
I followed up with Empower Me and hope to start this therapy after the winter semester. During my appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I described what I was going through. He suggested I probably was undergoing a depressive state and should try and do what is suitable for my mental health. He told me if I thought my mental health would be compromised because of my schooling, I should take a break. He also said if I needed any documentation, he would provide it. I am currently in the process of obtaining that documentation. On the appointment on April 21st with the Queens doctor, I was referred to a psychiatrist and am waiting for a call for student wellness to set up an appointment. Currently, I am in a better state than before but am still suffering from depression and anxiety and am not feeling mentally stable. I have another doctor's appointment with my family physician on May 6th to reassess and find a plan to better treat my mental health issues better. Everything considered, I believe, because of my struggles with mental health, I have not achieved my full academic capability in my BIOL 403 class. I also had a tremendous amount of anxiety about coming to the BIOL 403 class because it was in person. I told my family physician how bad my anxiety was when coming to this class and how I would sometimes have anxiety attacks before coming. I have pushed myself this semester because I knew BIOL 403 is a challenging course, and I wanted to do well in it. However, the added pressure of constantly pushing myself in this course is causing me a great deal of stress on top of the already depressive state. I have completed five labs and will be completing the final exam today. Coming to the BIOL 403 class has been challenging because of how much anxiety I felt coming in and how unstable my mental health was. I have worked tremendously hard in all my other courses this semester, and I do not want my mark in BIOL 403 to take away from that. It would be greatly appreciated if I could drop this course late, given the circumstance.
Thank you,
Samantha Gillen