Experiencing stress, depression, anxiety, and other symptoms caused by any psychiatric diagnoses while employed as a candidate attorney may affect your ability to carry out your duties at work or your ability to study.
I am writing this blog to share methods which have helped me cope with my mental health disorders while being a candidate attorney. I was diagnosed with two mental health disorders and struggled with managing my mental health in a way which initially negatively affected my ability to carry out my duties as a candidate attorney and study for my examinations.
As a result of my battle with mental health, I was forced to leave my position as a candidate attorney and focus on finding methods to cope with it to continue my articles at a later stage. I implemented the coping strategies below and felt much better after a few months. I then decided to complete my articles. I used the techniques below while doing my articles for the second time, and managed to complete my articles and write my attorney's admission examinations.
In this blog, we'll look at coping strategies you can implement while completing your legal articles.
Managing your symptoms
Living a balanced life may assist in managing your symptoms and includes balancing work, studies and your personal life. Other methods that you could use to cope with your symptoms include receiving continuous treatment, maintaining good quality sleep, exercising and practising relaxation techniques.
Continuous treatment
Receiving continuous medical treatment for your medical condition is important, as this will ensure that you do not reach a state of being "burnt out". Continuous treatment could include, but is not limited to, taking prescription medication and therapy with a registered psychologist or counsellor.
I seek to emphasise the importance of continuous treatment, as I initially did not receive continuous treatment and ended up in a mental health hospital a few times due to reaching a state of burnout. I forgot to take my medication some days or failed to get a new prescription timeously and went a few days without my medication. I also did not go to therapy sessions as suggested by my mental health professionals. Once I started taking my medication as prescribed, ensuring that my script was received in time, having regular therapy sessions and implementing relaxation techniques, exercising and practicing good sleep hygiene, my symptoms were easier to manage and I was able to balance my duties as a candidate attorney, my studies and my personal life. I'll delve into each of these topics below.
Medication
If you have been prescribed any medication by your psychiatrist, it is important to take your medication as prescribed. It is best to take your medication at the same time daily. It is also important to ensure that you track how much medication you have left and ensure that you receive your prescription for the new month timeously so that you do not have to go without your medication. It can take up to a week to receive a new prescription once you have notified your psychiatrist that you need a new prescription. It is, therefore, important to timeously request a new prescription.
If you have a script for a period longer than a month, for example, three or six months, request that the pharmacy where you collect your medication places you on the list of collections for them to automatically package your medication monthly and notify you once it is packed. This will help you save time as you only have to collect it and not stand in line. You could also use the medication delivery service if your pharmacy offers a delivery service.
Therapy
It is highly suggested that you undergo continuous therapy sessions with your psychologist or counsellor at adequately spaced-out intervals, for example, weekly or monthly, depending on your financial situation. If you are a member of a medical aid scheme, enquire how many annual sessions you have available for therapy and space the available sessions out to ensure you have enough sessions throughout the year. If you are part of a medical aid scheme and your benefits are depleting, you can request that your psychologist or counsellor conclude a payment plan with you to continue having any remaining sessions as needed.
When it comes to therapy sessions, it might be difficult to fit them into your current schedule as a candidate attorney, as the availability of sessions might clash with your working hours. It is important to come to an agreement with your principal that you can attend the sessions during work hours if necessary. It is important that you make up any working hours that you have missed by working overtime on that same day or the day before or after, as agreed with your principal. An example would be the following:
You start work at 08:30 and end at 17:00 every day but the last session that your psychologist or counsellor has available is at 16:00. Explain to your principal that you need to have a therapy session and request if you could start at 06:30 and end at 15:00 that day to ensure that you make up for any time that you may lose out while attending the session. The amount of time that you will leave work before your appointment depends on the proximity of the office of your psychologist or counsellor to the office where you work.
Other coping strategies
There are several coping strategies you could use. We'll discuss each one below.
Sleep
I recommend that you receive an adequate amount of sleep each night. According to the Mayo Clinic, the required amount of daily sleep an individual needs varies from person to person, but 7-8 hours a night is the accepted standard. Ensuring that you receive an adequate amount of sleep as well as good quality sleep will ensure that feelings of anxiousness and depression are minimised. Having an adequate amount of sleep as a candidate attorney might seem impossible given that you have to balance work, studies and your personal life, but it is not unachievable. It is best to create a personalised routine, which includes the times you will sleep and ensure that you stick to this routine.
Exercise
Exercising regularly has positive outcomes for both physical and mental health. Exercise reduces stress levels, enhances mood and self-esteem and can improve attention, focus, memory, cognition, language fluency and decision making.
I incorporated physical activity into my daily routine by doing stretches once a day for roughly fifteen minutes. I also did some exercises in the evenings, four times a week for roughly 30 minutes at a time. I did these exercises at home as I could not afford a gym membership. See this article by Healthline for exercises you can do at home with no equipment.
I was able to fit exercise into my day by following my routine. I found that cooking in bulk and having the food over two to three times a week opened some free time for me to exercise. I ensured that I used most of my weekend to study and only studied for two to three hours, three times a week.
Relaxation techniques
Hamdani et al define relaxation techniques as "a set of strategies to improve physiological response to stress". Performing relaxation techniques results in decreased stress, anxiety and depression levels. Relaxation techniques include yoga, meditation, mindfulness and breathwork. You may face large volumes of stress while working and studying. You can also perform breathwork or a few minutes of meditation throughout the day, including during your teatime or lunch break, to manage your stress levels.
Conclusion
Living a balanced life, ensuring that you have good quality sleep, and using relaxation techniques may lessen the impact that the symptoms caused by any of your psychiatric diagnoses may have on your ability to carry out your duties as a candidate attorney or your studies.
Resources for candidate attorneys
Websites
South African Depression and Anxiety Group
National Institute of Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/site.html#gen
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
World Health Organization
https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health#tab=tab_1
Helplines
Suicide Crisis Helpline - 080 056 7567
Cipla Mental Health Helpline - 080 045 6789
Department of Social Development Substance Abuse Helpline - 080 012 1314
Adcock Ingram Depression and Anxiety Helpline - 080 070 8090
SADAG Mental Health Line - 011 234 4837
LifeLine South Africa - 086 132 2322
Sources
Hamdani, Syed Usman, et al. “Effectiveness of relaxation techniques as an active ingredient of psychological interventions to reduce distress, anxiety and depression in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” International Journal of Mental Health Systems, vol. 16, no. 31, 2022, p. 2. Springer, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13033-022-00541-y.
Mahindru, Aditya, et al. “Role of Physical Activity on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Review.” Cureus, vol. 15(1), no. e33475, 2023, pp. 1 - 3. Pubmed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9902068/.