getting help for depression before work Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi TLS,

Im a recent grad and I'll be starting work at biglaw soon. I have been suffering from depression throughout law school and I'm worried that this will affect my work. I understand the nature of biglaw and I feel like I have about 2 to 3 months to cure this depression. I'm planning to meet with a therapist but if anyone went through a similar experience, I'd love to hear about them. Thank you all

[Anonymous User]

Meeting with a therapist is a great thing to do. IF your therapist recommends medication (and you agree to go that route), there are a couple things to keep in mind given that you have a 2-3 month window:

1. The first medication you try often isn't the right one for you. Often times patients will go through several medications before they finally find one that is "right" for them. This can take time, and the amount of time it will take is unpredictable because it depends on your body chemistry and its interaction with the medication(s).

2. Compounding the above issue is the fact that anti-depressants usually require 3-6 weeks of "build time" in your system before you start seeing results. So if you start taking an anti-depressant right now, your therapist would likely advise you to stick with it for at least a month before deciding it's not "right" for you. They may even want to increase or decrease the dosage before throwing in the towel. And if you decide it's not right for you, you then need to taper off the medication slowly to avoid suffering from discontinuation/withdrawal symptoms. If, as noted above, you need to try a few different medications before you find the right one for you, that process could take many months.

tl;dr: IF you're considering taking an anti-depressant begin that process asap, because it takes time to find one that works for you.

[Anonymous User]

There is no curing depression. I found a therapist for my condition that’s willing to meet on Saturdays and I made sure to always talk to her even if it’s a Skype call for 30 minutes. Even during crunch times nobody bats an eye at a 1 hour break if you give people a heads up.

I still had to cancel from time to time but it was rare.