Petition Letter
This letter is for the purpose of appealing a requirement to withdraw for one year. In the following letter I hope to outline the extenuating circumstances around my poor academic performance particularly from the 2020 to 2021 year, however my performance in the previous academic year (2019-2020) can be explained in the following as well.
As a preface, I have had severe anxiety, a speech impediment (likely enhanced by anxiety) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) since I was a child. I was officially diagnosed with these disorders yet I never received treatment for them, as they never seemed to impact my academic performance. As I got older (particularly around the very end of my highschool career/the beginning of university in 2019), I suffered a steep decline in my mental health. Gradually there was a decline in my ability to sleep, eat, focus and stay motivated which caused a severe change in the way I saw myself. My grades did begin to suffer which was very difficult, as I had been an extremely studious student my whole life. The decline in academic performance destroyed my self-esteem as I had always equated my success in school with my self worth. With all the changes that came with transitioning into university along with the anxiety of not understanding why I was unable to perform the way I once did, I quickly gave up. In the beginning of 2020 the slow decline turned into a steep downhill in which I lost myself. Unable to focus, with no motivation and convinced I was bound to fail I fell into what I now know was a state of depression. Fearful of my parents disapproval, I kept all of this from them and continued to dig myself deeper into a dark and anxious state. What I had not realized at this point was that I gave up and let my anxiety and other mental hurdles completely take over. Personal relationships were also affected and behavioural and other abnormal changes were noted and expressed to me by friends and family. Terrified to upset my parents (as well as a lack of understanding of the solus course menu) I did not take the appropriate steps to drop the courses I was unable to complete. At this point (around March of 2020), simple activities such as logging onto school websites would give me anxiety attacks. On top of the stress of the pandemic, my overwhelming fear of failure took over as I dreaded anything to do with school. My inherent and deep fear of disappointing myself and those around me forced me to cope with the situation. Unfortunately due to the lack of support and reassurance, I felt extremely trapped and alone so I coped by avoiding the situation as a whole.
Eventually (around September 2020) my mental health worsened to the point that I was completely unable to attend classes and complete course work. My mental state had gotten to a point where even my physical health severely suffered. My blood pressure and heart rate were constantly high and I would experience chest pain and other symptoms consistent with panic attacks. These symptoms would persist and remain almost constant as my inability to focus, inability to complete tasks, extreme lack of motivation and frequent and intense emotional outbursts worsened. At this point I had reached rock bottom. My concerned mother did not understand what was going on and pushed me to see my family doctor to hopefully resolve the drastic behaviour changes she was seeing in me. In October of 2020 I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) by my family doctor. I was prescribed different medications to try during this time to treat the adult ADD I was diagnosed with. During these few months I consistently took a stimulant medication which is meant to help ADD patients focus. Some side effects include mood changes, sleeping/eating troubles, increased heart rate and heightened anxiety symptoms. During the time I was taking this medication, my anxiety worsened to the point of an almost constant state of heightened anxiety and multiple panic attacks per day. I was unable to do basic tasks without suffering emotional breakdowns. At this point, school was completely put aside as I gave up and dropped all but one of my courses due to a lack of knowledge of the consequences that would bring. I was fearful of what my family would think and what the academic consequences would be if I dropped all enrolled courses. Still hoping this medication was the solution, and despite all the negative effects it had, I took it for months until my primary care physician took an unexpected and long-term break from his practice. I was then forced to see another doctor who suggested I may have anxiety/panic disorder due to my abnormally and alarmingly high blood pressure and heart rate despite coming off of the stimulant medication. He suggested that the stimulant medication heightened my anxiety disorder which is likely a large contributing factor to many symptoms and behaviours that impacted my academic performance. I saw my primary care physician once he returned to his practice (in May 2021) and finally was able to explain my situation to him, as well as my parents. He then prescribed me with anxiety medication and wrote a referral to a psychotherapist. He reassured me that anxiety disorders run in my family and are treatable. I have since been in close contact with him to adjust my medical treatment as necessary.
I have uploaded a letter from my primary care physician roughly outlining his involvement in my mental medical history. If any further documentation or explanation is needed please feel free to contact me.
As a preface, I have had severe anxiety, a speech impediment (likely enhanced by anxiety) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) since I was a child. I was officially diagnosed with these disorders yet I never received treatment for them, as they never seemed to impact my academic performance. As I got older (particularly around the very end of my highschool career/the beginning of university in 2019), I suffered a steep decline in my mental health. Gradually there was a decline in my ability to sleep, eat, focus and stay motivated which caused a severe change in the way I saw myself. My grades did begin to suffer which was very difficult, as I had been an extremely studious student my whole life. The decline in academic performance destroyed my self-esteem as I had always equated my success in school with my self worth. With all the changes that came with transitioning into university along with the anxiety of not understanding why I was unable to perform the way I once did, I quickly gave up. In the beginning of 2020 the slow decline turned into a steep downhill in which I lost myself. Unable to focus, with no motivation and convinced I was bound to fail I fell into what I now know was a state of depression. Fearful of my parents disapproval, I kept all of this from them and continued to dig myself deeper into a dark and anxious state. What I had not realized at this point was that I gave up and let my anxiety and other mental hurdles completely take over. Personal relationships were also affected and behavioural and other abnormal changes were noted and expressed to me by friends and family. Terrified to upset my parents (as well as a lack of understanding of the solus course menu) I did not take the appropriate steps to drop the courses I was unable to complete. At this point (around March of 2020), simple activities such as logging onto school websites would give me anxiety attacks. On top of the stress of the pandemic, my overwhelming fear of failure took over as I dreaded anything to do with school. My inherent and deep fear of disappointing myself and those around me forced me to cope with the situation. Unfortunately due to the lack of support and reassurance, I felt extremely trapped and alone so I coped by avoiding the situation as a whole.
Eventually (around September 2020) my mental health worsened to the point that I was completely unable to attend classes and complete course work. My mental state had gotten to a point where even my physical health severely suffered. My blood pressure and heart rate were constantly high and I would experience chest pain and other symptoms consistent with panic attacks. These symptoms would persist and remain almost constant as my inability to focus, inability to complete tasks, extreme lack of motivation and frequent and intense emotional outbursts worsened. At this point I had reached rock bottom. My concerned mother did not understand what was going on and pushed me to see my family doctor to hopefully resolve the drastic behaviour changes she was seeing in me. In October of 2020 I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) by my family doctor. I was prescribed different medications to try during this time to treat the adult ADD I was diagnosed with. During these few months I consistently took a stimulant medication which is meant to help ADD patients focus. Some side effects include mood changes, sleeping/eating troubles, increased heart rate and heightened anxiety symptoms. During the time I was taking this medication, my anxiety worsened to the point of an almost constant state of heightened anxiety and multiple panic attacks per day. I was unable to do basic tasks without suffering emotional breakdowns. At this point, school was completely put aside as I gave up and dropped all but one of my courses due to a lack of knowledge of the consequences that would bring. I was fearful of what my family would think and what the academic consequences would be if I dropped all enrolled courses. Still hoping this medication was the solution, and despite all the negative effects it had, I took it for months until my primary care physician took an unexpected and long-term break from his practice. I was then forced to see another doctor who suggested I may have anxiety/panic disorder due to my abnormally and alarmingly high blood pressure and heart rate despite coming off of the stimulant medication. He suggested that the stimulant medication heightened my anxiety disorder which is likely a large contributing factor to many symptoms and behaviours that impacted my academic performance. I saw my primary care physician once he returned to his practice (in May 2021) and finally was able to explain my situation to him, as well as my parents. He then prescribed me with anxiety medication and wrote a referral to a psychotherapist. He reassured me that anxiety disorders run in my family and are treatable. I have since been in close contact with him to adjust my medical treatment as necessary.
I have uploaded a letter from my primary care physician roughly outlining his involvement in my mental medical history. If any further documentation or explanation is needed please feel free to contact me.