[Anonymous]

Evening all, after months of feeling inexplicably down and having very low levels of motivation, I have recently been diagnosed with depression. I have a growing concern about this hindering my career, as i would like to work in psychology (I hope you all enjoy the irony of this). If I am to pursue psychological help will this prevent my career choice in any way? Who will find out about any treatment I may receive?
Thank you very much x

[pinkangelgirl]

I had severe depression last year but couldnt go and see a doctor about it because as soon as its on your record you cant be a psychologist.

I dont know if its the same for all areas of psychology, but for clinical you cant have any record of mental health.

When you apply for clinical psychology, they give you a routine screening and check all your medical background/criminal record etc and if you have any mental health problems ever you are automatically illegible

i know its hard, because im in the same boat. Your other alternative is to try counselling?

apparently this is wrong information!! maybe my source was unreliable.

[Madprof]

(Original post by pinkangelgirl)
When you apply for clinical psychology, they give you a routine screening and check all your medical background/criminal record etc and if you have any mental health problems ever you are automatically illegible

Who told you this? I'd be very surprised if this was true. You can be a doctor, even a psychiatrist, with a history of mental illness and plenty of people do. The same goes for mental health nursing.

[OU Student]

This could be used to your advantage.

[mld]

(Original post by ashkearney)
Evening all, after months of feeling inexplicably down and having very low levels of motivation, I have recently been diagnosed with depression. I have a growing concern about this hindering my career, as i would like to work in psychology (I hope you all enjoy the irony of this). If I am to pursue psychological help will this prevent my career choice in any way? Who will find out about any treatment I may receive?
Thank you very much x

I never let on that I heard voices because I thought I couldn't be a teacher and have schizophrenia. However, life got so bad a few years ago it was taken out of my hands. But I've just landed another teaching job this week!!!

Look after your health first, then think about the career. I wish I had done then I could have been on antipsychotics most of my life.

M.

[Geritak]

(Original post by ashkearney)
Evening all, after months of feeling inexplicably down and having very low levels of motivation, I have recently been diagnosed with depression. I have a growing concern about this hindering my career, as i would like to work in psychology (I hope you all enjoy the irony of this). If I am to pursue psychological help will this prevent my career choice in any way? Who will find out about any treatment I may receive?
Thank you very much x

I'm kind of in your position; I've wanted to work in the mental health sector for years, and then BANG! - I developed a set of issues of my very own, had to leave university for a year as a result, and am currently having treatment through the local Primary Care Trust. I avoided getting help for ages as I was worried about the same things you are, but having researched it a bit, the picture I'm getting is fairly reassuring.


Ultimately, it depends on where you apply to. There are some employers who would see previous engagement with psychological services as a plus, provided you're broadly OK at the time, as it gives you more empathy with the people you're likely to be working with. My uni counsellor once went so far as to say that CBT would look good on my CV! They might keep a closer eye on you when you're working with people whose experiences are very close to yours, but I think that's all. If you're having ongoing problems when you apply for jobs like this, then that could admittedly make things a little more complicated. You may have to work a bit harder to prove that you can still fulfill the role without too much risk to yourself or your clients/service users/patients (delete as preferred).


There will be other places that are reluctant to employ people with your history, or less willing to be supportive to existing employees with mental health difficulties. There's variation in every profession. Personally, though, I would be slightly suspicious of organisations that take this position, as it suggests a bit of an 'us-and-them' assumption that mental health professionals shouldn't be susceptible to the conditions they treat. It also potentially indicates a belief that psychological issues automatically stop someone from being therapeutically effective (not true!) or that they never entirely go away (not true either, and surely not a good message to be sending to people currently having problems!).


On a final note, you don't have to disclose your psychological history to anyone, although there will be a place on any occupational health forms for you to do so. As much as this is completely your decision, you should be aware that if you don't, and your mental health does affect your work at some point, then your employer is much less likely to be sympathetic and has legal grounds to dismiss you if they wish.


Have a look at this for a bit more detail: http://www.clinpsy.org.uk/forum/view...php?f=23&t=151


Hope this helps!

[Liv1204]

It won't stop you from working in psychology so long as you are well enough to do so. That doesn't mean you can't have depression, for example, but that you need to be physically and mentally well enough to cope with the job - that might mean recovering from it, keeping it under control through therapy or medication, etc etc. Which is fair enough, because they need to know that you will be able to cope and that it won't make you ill.

It can make things more difficult in some situations, but it's just a hurdle to get over. And as Geritak says, it can be seen as a plus with some employers. I applied for an HCA job and on the supporting information mentioned that I'd been detained by police under the Mental Health Act, and I was invited for an interview because I managed to use it to my advantage, to show that I could have empathy, that I understand the benefits of treatments and that I understand that it is possible to recover etc etc. There are also some NHS trusts which have policies of seeing personal experience of mental health as an advantage - I think Kent was one of those, their policy was just that you couldn't have been treated by them in the past 6 months.

x

[~ Purple Rose ~]

It will not prevent you having a career in psychology, as long as you are well enough to. I am bipolar and was accepted to a social work course with mental health issues (although my diagnosis was depression at the time) and am now training to be a counsellor - and would like to go into counselling psychology in the future. You will have to declare it, but it will not mean you won't be accepted, they will probably refer you to occupational health to check you are fit, and/or ask permission to contact your doctor for their opinion.