whoogiebear

hello Dr. Rosenthal -
I am a bipolar doctor, just graduated from Stony Brook - I began writing poetry as a form of self-therapy during medical school, after a suicide attempt; other than medications and sleep, poetry has been my most effective form of therapy. I was hoping to train in psychiatry, but unfortunately I did not match into any residency program. I doubt I will be able to match into residency next year either, and so I am currently prioritizing law school applications. I am still passionate about becoming a psychiatrist or otherwise helping that patient population - do you have any recommendations for alternative paths to explore?

I also have one specific question - I have explored the possibility of using light therapy to treat my SAD, but my psychiatrists have cautioned me that it has been associated with conversion to mania. Is there any way to tell whether light therapy is worth the risk for depressed bipolar patients?

thank you very much for your work, and for your availability in this forum.

we are more than cogs; i am done with cutting away pieces of myself to fit the system's needs.

the only feedback i got was "it was a weird year" - i have good scores and letters, but also a few failures/absences and i'm getting old. I think not matching will be just one more strike against me, and I haven't been able to find any positions so far that I feel would advance my applications.

I used to work in law and love the field, it's not completely random. But yes i'm going to be always poor.

many thanks

this is the pubmed link - I'm going to try to go through my school library to get around the paywall

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31119407/