I don’t know if you will ever see this. I hope you will, because as you have said, more or less, you need a friend right now. I just wish, for your own sake, you hadn’t said it so publicly and from such a forum. I’ll bet you wish that as well, right now, but what’s done is done. The same goes for what you did to bring this all upon yourself.

All I can do, really, is to tell you that I don’t hate you or look down on you for your problems. I doubt many people do. Believe me; I have problems of my own. So does everybody else. Even those who will never admit it. Even those who will try to hide the fact by cutting you off or savaging you. Everybody.

Right now, my best advice for you is to SHUT UP. The more you talk about it, the more people will think about it and remember it. The harder you try to explain, the less people will believe you. I don’t know why, but that’s how it seems to work.

Get a doctor. Now. There’s no shame in seeking help. If you can’t afford a doctor, and it seems you can’t, visit a clinic or seek help pro bono. Although I think Michigan ought to have a decent health plan for its students. Don’t dawdle or defer this. You’re in too much pain.

If you and your doctor agree, consider taking a semester off. Get a low-stress job for expenses and think things through. If going to law school has brought you this much unhappiness, what will going into practice do?

If you want to continue with law school, seriously consider a transfer. Go someplace where you can relax a bit and where you stand some chance that your story will not follow you. I learned this way too late, but there are no prizes for suffering. If you are wretched--and do not doubt it, you are--get out. Go someplace where you don’t have to be unhappy before you have no place to go.

I wish I could tell you that it will all be okay. It probably will be, although maybe not in the way you once hoped for, or thought you hoped for. I can’t begin to tell you what the admissions board in your state of choice will decide about you. I can’t tell you what you will decide about yourself. I can only tell you that I want it to be okay for you, whatever okay turns out to be, and I think most of the members of your chosen profession would like that, too.

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Author’s Note: In case you don’t know the facts that led me to write this letter, I will recite them as briefly as I can. Michigan 2L is a female student whom the Ann Arbor police arrested last week after she went to them to report that she had been the victim of violent sex crimes while selling sexual favors. Her alleged client/attacker is a professor at the university. The police made public, mocking remarks. Today, an individual claiming believably to be Michigan 2L made the mistake of posting her explanation of, and addition to, reported events on the Internet. She was duly savaged. I have previously written about my belief in free posts, but make no mistake: if anyone attempts to make racist, misogynistic or senselessly brutal comments about Michigan 2L’s situation on this site, I will cheerfully exercise my moderator’s prerogative.