Hey everyone!
I'm in Year 11 but wanted to ask a very specific (personal) question regarding a SEAS application.
I've suffered from mental illnesses from Year 7, mostly depression and BDD but they didn't truly manifest until the start of Year 10 when my BDD spiralled into full blown anorexia/bulimia. My ED pushed me way into depression again, and changes in my brain chemistry have caused me to have certain delusions (hallucinations, auditory and visual and paranoia) so probably another psychotic/schizophrenic disorder. I've dealt with supplement (Vitamins and caffeine because I never had energy), laxative (bulimia is literally SHITTY) and painkiller abuse also, coming in at the start of 2016.
I know this is gonna affect me in Year 12 (I'm already taking Media 3+4 and Literature 3+4 this year), but I am so afraid to ask for help.
I've seen the school psych since 2014 for general 'issues'. Never got a diagnosis for depression or BDD because I was so afraid to ask if my symptoms = depression or BDD.
Never got help for my (ongoing) ED. I'm too afraid to reach out. Also I would die if my family tried to weight restore me.
Closest thing I've gotten help for is schizophrenia. End of 2016 (3 months ago) school psych was supposed to give me a referral to a specialist diagnostic centre in my area but didn't get back to me after the summer hols, and once again I'm afraid to 1. let my parents know I deal with any of this bs and 2. Annoy my already busy school psych who deals with higher risk students (suicidal, self harm etc, which I'm not).
I'm left feeling like an abolute coward. My culture is Asian and my family have made extremely insensitive and hurtful comments toward others regarding their mental illnesses. They've made it rather clear that they don't accept people with mental illnesses.
Additionally, I'm really nervous about job applications in the future. What do I do if I need to disclose my medical history? How will people see me once they know I'm a crazy bitch (not in the cute quirky way) who sees people that aren't there and talking spiders?
I want to clarify that some of my mental illnesses in this post are self-diagnosed. A lot of people really shit on those who self diagnose, but I don't need a psych telling me that overdosing on laxatives to get food out quickly is wrong. I don't need a psych to tell me that not eating for 2 weeks is wrong. Puking is pretty much always a sign that something is wrong. You shouldn't feel like you want to die for weeks on end. Anyway.
Questions:
How do I go about getting
evidence for SEASwhen the time comes? I have no diagnoses but a psychiatric history..
Is there a way for me to get help
without parental consent? I'm 15+ so can get my own Medicare card.
Is it even worth applying for SEAS? I'm already one of the top 3 students in all my classes (except Methods ew, but still good @ it) but I'd like insurance if I can't get into Biomed...
Sorry for such a long, depressing and personal post