Posted by uncouth on September 18, 2009, at 10:51:47
In reply to Re: Cognitive performance after ECT, BP2, + Meds, posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on September 18, 2009, at 6:48:31
Honestly, since my memory is so screwed up from the time of ECT, including probably 6-9 months prior, I don't even remember if the ECT helped. If it did, it was only very temporarily. I think if anything it simply served as a distraction and something put my hope in when I was suicidal. However, I'm pretty convinced that had I been on the med regime i'm on now a year ago, things wouldn't have gotten so bad as to warrant ECT.
Elements of my memory that have been toasted the most are "the details" in the 6-9 month period surrounding ECT. During those two months, I don't remember anything with any clarity...emails sent, people hung out with, stories told. Only thing I do know is that I regret being so open with my struggles with certain people. I was very, very sick and not thinking straight.
Strangely ECT I think has slightly egatively affected my verbal composition skills, but not my verbal reasoning. The GMAT tests a variety of verbal skills, including reading comprehension, critical (logical) reasoning, and sentence correction. It's an interesting grab bag. I did extraordinarily well on that section, 99%+, but I believe my writing skills have suffered a bit since the ECT.
I cannot ignore the other meds, especially the atypical antipsychotics, bupropion, and modafinil, in helping my general cognitive ability.
Now all I have to do is get into business school. I'm hoping i'm lucker this year than last, with a better score and some better essays. For what its worth, I'm planning on including in one of my essays my struggles with bipolar disorder throughout my twenties. They want honest, heartfelt essays that project who a person really is and what that person finds important. Without striving for sympathy points, I feel I would be remiss in not addressing the life-altering affects of bipolar disorder, and more germane to business school essays, how i've transcended the challenges of illness to achieve what I have achieved, despite the often debilitating pain.
B-schools are notorious for seeking out the extraverted, "over"confident, type-a personalities....but I believe leadership and success can come in many forms and hopefully admissions committees do too.
I may ask anyone interested to read my essays if I do decide to write about mental illness before I submit them, as I so highly value the opinions and experience of people on this board.
Thanks,
Uncouth
poster:uncouth
thread:917538
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090912/msgs/917564.html