Stressed Out

Many of these students are depressed. Unfortunately, many of them haven’t been diagnosed with depression. I’m not an expert by any means, but I happen to feel like certain red flags are obvious. Then again, I don’t have a Master’s Degree in Psychology so I’m not in a position to steer anybody accordingly.

Femme is a single mother who takes classes year-round. She gets no help from her son’s father. He’s too busy blowing up the local police logs to take care for his son. Femme gets help with childcare from her mother, who she lives with, but they don’t have the greatest relationship. As a matter of fact, Femme was raised by her father because as she puts it, her mother wasn’t the affectionate type.

In the fall and spring, Femme is enrolled in four classes each semester and plays on the Women’s basketball team.  During the summer, she takes one to two classes per session in an effort to graduate from school as soon as possible. The problem with all of this is that Femme really dislikes school and is trudging along academically as she tries to meet the requirements for the Radiologic Technology program.

Femme called me randomly late one morning because she was stressing about an upcoming Biology exam. She was extremely anxious about taking the test after having failed the first one a few weeks before. I asked her to meet me for lunch so we could talk at length about the many concerns she attempted to ramble through. It was clear that she needed more than a good pep talk on the phone.

Me: Are you passionate about Radiology?

Femme: Not at all.

Me: So why are you enrolled in it?

Femme: I have no idea. It seems interesting and you can make money but I hate these classes.

Me: What are you passionate about?

Femme: I have no clue. School is going nowhere.  Nothing is going good for me. My kid stay acting up in school. I don’t have my own spot. I live with my mom. I can’t find a job.

Me: Have you worked in the past couple of years?

Femme: Yeh. I worked at a food pantry and Macy’s doing make-up.

Me: You like helping people and you’re into cosmetics?

Femme: Yeh.

Me: So then that’s what you’re passionate about. I can tell you’re into make-up and all that. Why aren’t you still working there?

Femme: Ehh. Some stuff happened. I got in a situation outside a club and got arrested for disorderly conduct then I lied about it when I called in the next day. Before that, though, I missed work because I couldn’t get out of bed.

Me: What do you mean you couldn’t get out of bed?

Femme: There are days where I can’t get out of bed even though people are waking me up. There was a time where I’d sleep straight til 2 o’clock everyday. I wasn’t happy. It felt like I was in a hole. I just wanted to sleep all the time.

Me: Have you told your doctor this?

Femme: No.