Medical History

[dkl1986]

During my freshmen year of college, there was a situation that makes me ponder what future, if any, I may have in this field. This occurred in March 2005.

My girlfriend had broken up with me a few months prior. I was down about it but began going on with my life. A few months after she ended things, I was feeling better to ask another girl out. She said "no" and I was upset again. I began chatting with a friend of mine online who was living in the same dorm as me. I told her what happened and that I was upset. I told her my life sucked and I didn't know what to do about it. She told me she wanted to meet with me downstairs. When I got downstairs, not only did I meet her, but I met my RA (Resident Advisor). I was told to hang out for a minute while they went outside.

When they came back in, the University Police were with them as well. We went into another room and the Police asked me what happened. I told them the story I mentioned above. They asked if I had ever felt this way before. I told them I had (since I had my first "real" break up in high school a few years ago. Y'know, it's you first "love" and you think you're gonna get married and yada, yada, yada).

At that point they took me into protective custody and transported me to a mental health facility. I figured there was no point in arguing with the police since they explained to me they weren't the ones qualified to see if I was a danger to myself. I told them I didn't want to hurt/kill myself, but they said they were obligated to do what they had to do. Fair enough, I told them I understood and cooperated.

After they dropped me off at the facility, I spoke with a counselor. I told the counselor what I stated above. I said I had no intention of hurting/killing myself, but rather that I was upset and was trying to speak with a friend. I said I felt the friend took this out of proportion. They asked me a few other questions, and I was released. I was held only during the questioning part. They deemed I was not a danger to myself or others.

Almost four years have passed since this incident occurred. Since then, I have been off of medication, have worked at a hospital where I've seen death, gunshot wounds, stabbings, etc. come in to the ER, have done internships where I work in a jail/deal with inmates, an internship working in the property/evidence section of the Police Department (different one, mind you), and am currently volunteering for a Police Department.

I am not trying to sugarcoat anything. I KNOW this will be scrutinized very much. However, in your opinions and experiences, do you think this will be an automatic disqualifier or will I be given a chance to at least get to the psych part of testing with a department to see what the psychologist determines?

Note: This situation isn't something I'm proud of and do not talk about a lot, so please keep in mind how difficult it was for me to disclose this on something as public as an online forum. In return, I'm not asking you to sugarcoat your answers, but rather to take all things into consideration.

I thank you for your time in reading this legnthy post.

[DeltaV]

Since then, I have been off of medication,

What medication? Antidepressants?

Yes, the situation will have to be explained. If absolutely nothing came of it then I wouldn't really worry about it, however if you were put on medication as a result of the incident (or previously put on psychotropic drugs due to other problems), then it will be a little more of a problem. Will it DQ you? That's up to the department's psychologist.