I'm With Crazy

AYU ASTRID MAYLINDA
Volume 9, Issue 12
I was going to try to find that article where someone said something about law students and incidence of mental health issues but really, no one needs yet another piece of statistical evidence to prove that the pursuit of legal studies can undermine one’s mental health. And I, too, have proof. A few weeks ago, I posted a Facebook status lamenting the inanity of the Dispute Resolutions essay and was greeted with a barrage of comments and memes from my fellow students. I took the growing quagmire of procrastination and increasingly bad jokes as a sign that we were all going mad. Prayers were solicited by way of garnering likes. ​

No one in that crazy thread was even that religious.

Not unless you count worshipping at the Temple of the H1.

Worshipping at the Temple of the H1 and rubbing the cold bald scalp of fat stone Buddhas will eventually drive you crazy, but sometimes there is no explanation for the “crazies”. Sometimes, mental health is something that you cannot simply laugh or cry quietly about in the bathroom.

It is easy to gain temporary relief from memes on the Internet, but having mental health issues in law school is like standing on the side of a railroad in a 60s Western as the trains fly by. First, the clouds of dust get swept up into the air in the wake of the flying train. Then it settles on your boots. Then you inhale some. Then you start choking. Except the train (and also hell) is other people answering questions without hesitation in class and seeming really intelligent and you feel like you’re just trying to get high off their magical pixie dust.

It is also easy to play someone’s issues down as an unfortunate consequence of such a demanding course, without considering that perhaps that someone has had said impediments for far longer than they would have you know. It is even easier to take someone’s struggle and place it on the Scale of Well-Adjustment to Law School. Someone’s having a mental breakdown? Probably just the lack of sleep. Someone’s “stressing out really bad”? Probably just started the essay too late and couldn’t deal.

The point of this is to highlight the fact that it is much easier to make assumptions about someone’s journey than it is to actually sit down, go beyond giving someone the benefit of the doubt, and listen to that someone’s journey as an individual. Maybe it is the lack of time to get coffee during class breaks, let alone giving someone the time of day. Or maybe, and I posit, it is the rather hazardous assumption that everyone has come into this building on an equal footing and should therefore be treated the same.

None of us are built the same way, and sometimes someone needs more TLC than others. If you see someone who’s on the verge of tears, pull them aside and give them a hug or some gum so the chewing can distract them from actually crying. Or wear something silly so someone in class can focus on you being an eyesore and forget that they have problems. One of my classmates (shoutout to David) rides a scooter into Uni and has planted the seeds of what is hopefully a revival of the Kid Scooter as a viable mode of transport into Uni. After all, no one journey is superior to another.

I guess we could all take a step back and avoid stressing ourselves and the people around us out by learning how to take the piss at ourselves. The beautiful façades are most applicable at job interviews but do nothing for the beautiful exposition of the vulnerabilities of humanity. For someone with mental health issues and that added bonus of a thinner skin, it would be so much better if we all admitted that we have issues and learn to deal with it in a way that would reduce the stigma attached to being crazy.

Mental health is an important issue and should not be taken lightly. For mental health support, here are some helpful places to look to:

• University of Melbourne’s Counselling and Psychological Services
• BeyondBlue

Ayu Astrid Maylinda is a first-year JD student

The rest of this week's *bumper* issue:

• Practitioners and Students Rally Against Further Cuts to Legal Aid Funding
• The Mask
• Stress Less: Embrace Mediocrity
• Where Can Legal Training Take You? Interview with Nicholas Reece
• Jessup: This is a Joke, Right?
• Response to ‘Jessup: This is a Joke, Right?’ 
• When You Can’t Cedar Wood for the Trees
• The Erasure of Authenticity
• Sushi is Just a Rice Salad Rolled in Seaweed & Other Obvious Things
• Blame Glynn Davis
• EOX Ticket Price: ‘Can’t I Just Dance?’
• The Clerkship Diaries: I’m Not Mad, I’m Just Disappointed
• Equity Uncle on De Minimis’ Unprofessionalism

 
More articles like this:

• Mental Health in Law School: Speak Up
• Practicing Mindfulness at Law School
• Kate Van Hooft Says Goodbye