• A managing partner at a top NY law firm advised students to break-up with on-again, off-again love-interests; undergo medical and dental procedures before law school; to forget about television, magazines and news media.
  • Sure; if they get used to that at law school, they will be much more docile and less demanding when they get to the firm, right?

• Upperclassmen advise 1Ls to leave outgoing voice mail messages that told family and friends not to call except in case of emergency.
  • Unhealthy advice from people who don't know how to go through law school. You hear it all the time, and you should avoid it.

• Educational personnel have stated that 1L is not too great a time to put life on hold.
  • What are "educational personnel"? There are people who know something, and there are people who don't. "Educational personnel" sounds suspiciously like group #2. And what does "not too great a time" mean? A bad time? Not a good time? Or not too long a time? In any event, "educational personnel" appear to be bullshitting you.

• Smart drugs for law students? On the basis of one study showing that college students remembered random word lists better after two weeks on Nootropil? (Caution: research paid for by manufacturer.) Hypnosis for stress? Prayer groups? Look, people have to do what they have to do, and if the question is what sort of lotus to eat for what hurts you, my answer is "whatever gets you through the night."

• But none of this has anything to do with what would: (a) make one happier in law school, or (b) more successful and effective as a law student and lawyer. As to (a), you can break the solution down into two parts:
  1. Don't sweat the small shit, no matter what people tell you; and
  2. Don't listen to people who tell you to sweat the small shit, no matter who they are or where they work.

• As to (b) the answer is: learn basic skills and capabilities.
  1. Exercise and strengthen your memory for what you read.
  2. Create and exercise your memory for what you hear.
  3. Find the neural pathway that leads to best memory for you (reading, writing, hearing, speaking, visualizing, drawing, graphing, etc.), and use it for all the material you can possibly bring through that as opposed to other neural channels.
  4. Don't read, write, listen, or otherwise try to load your memory in long, unbroken sessions. Instead, use the rhythm of your intervening activities (walking, eating, exercising, etc.), to help cue your memory. And use those times to ... well ... live.
  5. Work on listening more than speaking. Cultivate the ability to understand what one person speaking to you is thinking that s/he's not saying. Then start trying to understand other silent participants in a group listening to someone else speak. Become attentive to body language, movement, etc. Learn to remember people's "tells."
  6. Speak in public where possible, including the classroom. Learn to be funny, leisurely, firm, inviting, forbidding and dignified, as necessary.
  7. Have real clients, under appropriate supervision, before leaving school.

• So far as this essay is concerned, I wish you'd spend less time on a survey of possible anodynes, and go back to the place of your departure: You are invited, by me or some other oracle, to do what's easier and more successful--attend to the things that will help you be a better law student, which are more than enough and are not unpleasant, and ignore the rest of the blather. Why not just tune out the crap? Saying it's difficult doesn't answer the question: Why is it difficult? Then perhaps there is some hope we may be able to ease those difficulties--possibly without drugs, needles, or prayer--and deal with the whole "Law school is an emergency situation" business in a fashion that gives your adrenal glands a rest.

Ready for Grading

Stress Management Mechanisms for Law School

Law School: Part-time job or Extreme Situation?

• A managing partner at a top NY law firm advised students to break-up with on-again, off-again love-interests; undergo medical and dental procedures before law school; to forget about television, magazines and news media.

• Upperclassmen advise 1Ls to leave outgoing voice mail messages that told family and friends not to call except in case of emergency.

• Educational personnel have stated that 1L is not too great a time to put life on hold.

Although, I try to maintain calm in the face of anxiety, silencing the less healthful views is an uneasy task. So, I will focus on the scientific evidence as to the efficacy and validity of a few mechanisms that may afford students improved management of stress-inducing performance expectations.

Shifting the focus from cause to coping strategies

Law school is a microcosm of a society which demands people be smarter, faster, better, and do more in less time. Which may be the cause of the increased incidence of psychological pathology throughout society. Still, decrying the state of affairs does not equip me to cope with the realities of the circumstances.

My perception of what this situation requires is more reactive than prospective, focusing more on functioning within the construct than changing it. Nonetheless, for me, now is not the time to press my abilities against the institutional machineries which reinforce anxiety and fear. Changing them is a valid aim, but not one which suits my immediate purposes. Once the perceived necessity dissipates, I can re-shift my focus to attacking stressful environmental factors.

Managing the Stress of Performance Expectations

American Psychological Association discussing Psychoneuroimmunology

Justified belief or Unreasoning hope

Social Support Groups

Read more from the Brain, Behavior, and Immunity Journal.

Hypnosis and Meditation

The article suggests that meditation is a type of self-hypnosis:

“Hypnosis is also described as an ‘attentive, receptive focal concentration,’ with the trance state being a ‘normal activity of a normal mind,’ which occurs regularly, as when reading an absorbing book, watching an engrossing movie, daydreaming, or performing monotonous activity. . . . If suggestions are given to achieve a desired effect, meditation [which is often self-directed] may qualify as hypnosis depending on the state achieved, particularly because hypnosis can occur naturally (ie, without formal induction).”

• Meditation or mindfulness is effective against anxiety and depression.

• “[S]ubjects who meditated for a short time showed increased alpha waves (the relaxed brain waves) and decreased anxiety and depression.” Psychology Today Magazine article.

• Regular meditation may change brain function.

• Prayerful meditation linked to feelings of general well-being.

Acupuncture

• General information and examples of patients using acupuncture for pain management

• Gerontological Nursing guideline on use of meditation (and other non-pharmacological treatments) for pain management.

• Physicians who are in favor of medical acupuncture.

• National Health Institute’s Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Knowledge Gaps and the Uncertainty of New Science

Faith-like conviction despite knowledge gaps has spurred innovation. For example, before harmful microorganisms were definitively proven to exist, Pasteur was harangued by the medical establishment for his fantastical claims. Today, scientific understanding of the microorganism has led to the creation of life-saving vaccines. Merely because something has yet to be wholly proven does not mean it is false or ineffective.

The uncertainty of the mechanism of action is not an unknown circumstance in science. Such uncertainty is present in evolution; while scientists have observed that adaptations occur, they are still uncertain of the mechanism by which adaptation occurs. Moreover, such uncertainty is typical of medical study concentrating on the connection between brain mechanisms and conditions or behaviors like depression or narcolepsy. For instance, piracetam which is used to fight Alzheimer’s (in Europe) is an effective drug with an unestablished mechanism of action.

Conclusion

Warnings and Disclaimers

Hypnosis/ Meditation

Acupuncture

Lessening the risks

The risk of needle point damage and non-sterile needles can be avoided by using one of the alternatives to needle focused treatment such as acupressure, acupuncture via the application of heat or electrical impulse, magnets, or suction.

Pharmacology

It would be ill-advised for any person to risk their brain health. Related compounds have been known to cause death, organ malfunction, addiction or to reduce victims to vegetative states. Also, certain compounds act on areas of the brain which build a dependence on the drug and make the brain more vulnerable to dependence or addiction in the future to compounds or dosages that would otherwise not be health-harming.