Should someone with mental health struggles do residency?
Hello,
For context I am a P3 who is very involved, high GPA, and leader of organizations. I considered residency at first, but slowly as time went on I saw the high depression rates among residents. I want to go into industry pharmacy, but if I couldn't then I saw residency and retail as my backup plans. I work in retail and I don't hate it as much as everyone else does, but job security wise, I have questions since most of us know how evil CVS and Walgreens are.
I have had a history of mental health struggles. I have lots of anxiety even when I'm not at school, ADHD, and the financial toll of pharmacy school has already taken a lot out of me mentally. Residency will obviously stress me out financially and work wise as well. I feel like i'm rugpulling myself if I don't go into residency, because a lot of people are expecting me to do so. But I am worried that I could potentially go through a mental health crisis because of residency. I've been mulling over the decision for a couple of days, (replaying over and over in my head), and it's starting to make me think. If I'm stressing about this now, how will I handle the real thing?
Is it worth it for me to do a residency for job security? are there residencies that are less intense? Am I scaring myself too much? Should I even sign the application if I get cold feet often?
Any and all advice and criticisms will help.