Question For College Students With PTSD

[RetFD113]

Greetings everyone,

I am a college faculty member with PTSD, and so I know how it impacts my classroom. My college asked me if I would be willing to put together an hour long presentation on the challenges faced by students with PTSD to be attended by the rest of the faculty. I know full well what it is like to have it, but mine came after I was a student, and so I don't know what it is like from the other side of the podium. If you are a student with PTSD, what is it that you wished your professors knew about your struggles? Are there particular types of assignments or projects that are especially challenging for you? (In my case, I shy away from any group or committee work because it makes me uncomfortable). My college is making a serious attempt to raise awareness of all mental health issues, not just PTSD, which affect our students in hopes that it will help faculty be more aware and also more attentive to the needs of those students.

 

[bellbird]

Kudos to your college for doing this! I wish mine would do the same :)

If you are a student with PTSD, what is it that you wished your professors knew about your struggles?

I'm currently a Masters student. My supervisor and a couple of my other professors know about my PTSD, which helps a lot.

The things that they know, that are helpful for both me and them are:

-an understanding that I'm very sleep deprived, and so if I re-ask a question in person or over email, it's not because I am being lazy or just not paying attention.


-an understanding of some particular ways that I might present, and what they can do to help.

eg. dissociative/ having flashbacks -- prompt me to ground but doesn't require any emergency aid.

eg2. hypervigilant -- I may need to do a more obvious scan of my area if hypervig is up, such as checking behind doors/filing cabinets in a meeting room, but that's nothing to be alarmed by.

eg3. isolation -- there will be times where it is too overwhelming for me to be around people and I need to isolate. again, this isn't just me being lazy. I think this is one that warrants a direct conversation between student and supervisor about setting some boundaries. my supervisor understands that I isolate and that it tends to happen without warning, but we also have a mutual understanding that I will do work when I am able while I am still isolating.

Are there particular types of assignments or projects that are especially challenging for you?

Bouncing off the isolation point, having projects that can be done both at home or on campus are really helpful. Like if I can't get into uni for a week, I'm still able to work on things at home.

If I'm especially sleep deprived, then having projects that require a lot of reading are difficult, because my brain reads a page of words but takes none of them in.

Group projects can be challenging, but I haven't had many at postgraduate level to speak on.


Also, I think it would be helpful for faculty to have a basic understanding of PTSD in terms of its effect on the brain. If they're science faculty, there are some nice papers on the biological and physiological impacts of PTSD on the brain and brain circuitry. But even if they're not science faculty, some acknowledgement of that in the talk would still be useful I think.

Maybe a very brief overview of the PTSD symptoms -- intrusions, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition/mood, alterations in arousal and reactivity.

And really just that a student having PTSD isn't something they need to be afraid of. There is so much stigma, particularly in the media, surrounding PTSD. Like, I may need a bit of extra help, and face challenges that most other students don't, but I'm still a human being doing my best at life :)

 

[Ronin]

Not using suicide as a hypothetic example for unrelated to MH issues, like, ever.

I was so tired calling that out, years long, at a very liberal college with social focus.

& Basics on abuse situations, encountered at multi colleges, they taught it but talking to people about very boring week in a crisis center, they had no actual advice.

So I guess, more field, less theory.

 

[Friday]

what is it that you wished your professors knew about your struggles?

Personally? Nada. One of the reasons I loooooved University is the incredible freedom/flexibility. For the vast majority of classes, there are only 2 days a quarter that one has to be there -midterms and finals- and even those can be made up. Labs and competitive programs, meanwhile, are things I learned to pad with easy A’s. Ended up with an extra major that way, but c’est la vie. The ability to set my own schedule, being able to come & go from class as needed/desired, a syllabus with a complete list -or at least a high B if not a low A- of assignments to work on in my own time ahead of schedule to account for last minute clusterf*cks? I can’t think of any other situation on the planet -short of being independently wealthy- that allows for more freedom or control. And thats before taking into account that most profs? Are totally willing to work with you -in advance- if something needs fine tuning. Don’t wait until the assignment is late. Hit them up early for an extension (or extra credit, to help make up where you’re going to take a hit) and what you’ve got put together already, if things look like they’re going sideways.

I had combat PTSD and a 2 month old baby when I started school. Best place in the world I can think of for new parents or those who need to manage their stress levels.

 

[RetFD113]

And really just that a student having PTSD isn't something they need to be afraid of. There is so much stigma, particularly in the media, surrounding PTSD. Like, I may need a bit of extra help, and face challenges that most other students don't, but I'm still a human being doing my best at life :)

Thank you for your answer. There's only a few people that I work with that know about my own background as I tend to keep it close to my vest. Part of that is, as you mentioned, because of the stigma. I've heard two different psychology professors make comments in front of me (without knowing, of course, that I have PTSD) about how everyone with PTSD is potentially a violent psychopath. I'd expect better from a psych professor, but I guess not.

This may sound kind of strange, but I'm far more comfortable opening up to my students about my struggles than I am with my fellow faculty members. I came into teaching as a second career (I'm a retired firefighter), and so I'm already a bit of an outcast for not being a "traditional" academic, and I've found that students are far more open and far less likely to judge the mental health struggles of others than faculty who boast about being tolerant and inclusive. That's part of what I think the college is hoping to achieve.....better understanding of these issues among the faculty.

 

[RetFD113]

Not using suicide as a hypothetic example for unrelated to MH issues, like, ever.

I was so tired calling that out, years long, at a very liberal college with social focus.

Definitely true. I teach history and sensitive topics come up from time to time. I give my students blanket permission (both verbally and in my syllabus), to step outside the class any time they feel overwhelmed or uncomfortable. They can take the rest of the class period off, take a lap around the hallway, go get some water....whatever they need to do. I've been trying to get some colleagues to do the same, but they say that it is too distracting. I've been doing this for ten years and have never had an issue with it. Nor has a student ever said that someone else leaving the class mid lecture distracts them from what I'm saying.

 

[RetFD113]

Personally? Nada. One of the reasons I loooooved University is the incredible freedom/flexibility. For the vast majority of classes, there are only 2 days a quarter that one has to be there -midterms and finals- and even those can be made up.

We are required to take attendance. Most of our instructors tie it to your grade (ie: four absences is a letter grade deduction, etc). I do not include it in my own grade calculations. There are no makeup finals per college policy unless it is a documented medical emergency. And most of my colleagues have a hard no late work rule. In fact, these things are all the norm at every college around where I am too.

Your situation is great for a person with any mental health or even physical health struggles. But ours is not. Though students with PTSD can qualify for accommodations from the college to grant them things like extended time on exams, etc, a lot of students don't know that and thus they do not get the extra help they are entitled to receive. What we are working on is trying to raise overall awareness of mental health conditions in our student population among faculty who are very.....for lack of a better word.....old school in their approach.

If I had been a student in most of my colleague's classes, I would never have been able to graduate college (and not because of PTSD.....I didn't have it then.....but because I was working 24 hour shifts as a firefighter and juggling 15-18 hours a semester. I had to miss class sometimes and there was nothing I could do about it. I had a career and that had to take priority).

 

[Ronin]

Though students with PTSD can qualify for accommodations

IME though this bit is quite great, on itself.

That PTSD gets taken enough seriously some places that its a recognized disability.

Places I studied recognized brain injury & sensory issues, or tldr neuro, not so much psych side of it. So cheers to any visibility, there.

 

[RetFD113]

IME though this bit is quite great, on itself.

That PTSD gets taken enough seriously some places that its a recognized disability.

Places I studied recognized brain injury & sensory issues, or tldr neuro, not so much psych side of it. So cheers to any visibility, there.

We don't do a good enough job reaching out to students to let them know what resources are available. Not just for PTSD, but for dang near anything. We know we have it, but our students, particularly incoming freshmen, are often unaware. I can't speak for other colleges, but mine also has two licensed therapists on staff who are present during the regular work week. Students get a certain number of visits free (I don't know how many) and then after that, a referral to an outside therapist. They also have a wealth of resources which they can guide students to, but again, it seems like most of our students are unaware that they even exist!

But.....we are doing our best to change that and to promote these things to our students.

 

[Justmehere]

My college is making a serious attempt to raise awareness of all mental health issues, not just PTSD, which affect our students in hopes that it will help faculty be more aware and also more attentive to the needs of those students.

This is really wonderful! I commend you for your leadership and vulnerability on this important topic.

Having been on all sides of academia, this is the one thing I wish more college students and faculty understood: The Ptsd Cup Explanation

If you are a student with PTSD, what is it that you wished your professors knew about your struggles? Are there particular types of assignments or projects that are especially challenging for you? (In my case, I shy away from any group or committee work because it makes me uncomfortable).

This is going to vary widely from person to person. Here on the forums, we don't use trigger warnings because none of us can actually know what will and will not trigger another. I wish colleges took this approach as well. My triggers may or may not be something that matches with someone else with PTSD. My triggers may be something I need to avoid... or that I need to purposefully approach.

What tools and accommodations I need to handle my PTSD symptoms need to be taken seriously, but also may not fit at all for someone else and it's not me being lazy or that I'm about to shoot up the school (two stereotypes I've run into). I think it comes down to a culture of respect? Not silence or hand-holding... but respect for the tools people need to work hard and have success.

 

[RetFD113]

I think it comes down to a culture of respect? Not silence or hand-holding... but respect for the tools people need to work hard and have success.

Yes! What you said is very important. Some faculty think that awareness/understanding equates with watering down the curriculum or making exceptions, when nothing could be further from the truth. As a person with PTSD myself, the last thing I want is to be treated different from my colleagues. I just want to do my job to the best of my ability.

 

[Ronin]

We know we have it, but our students, particularly incoming freshmen, are often unaware.

Could leaflets all over the campus, particularly somewhere people spend a lot of time mid lectures at or go to eat and necessities like that, help with the raising of awareness thing? Something informal, but in your face enough. Given you said you got the services, just need better sig boost.