How to address third year mental health issues in PS?

[Tryingouthere]

I am a third-year student currently and plan on applying this fall. I haven't written the LSAT yet (scheduled for August), but I have a 3.8/4 cGPA and pretty good softs in terms of leadership positions, as well as working directly with the law school at my university to organize events. The only issue is I've had some severe mental health issues throughout my life that I've had to overcome, including PTSD, dysthymia and some anxiety issues revolving around the deaths of almost half my family over a few years. As a result, this includes two years where I didn't do anything in school and had to petition to have my record essentially expunged, but the courses still appear as WDR, so they will be present in my application. I then had an anxiety attack in an exam last year, which led to my grade dropping from an A in a full-year course to a B+. I thought I could explain this anomaly as a part of my PS by leaning into the fact it hasn't been a linear path, but I have continued to grow and learn at all stages of my undergraduate career in a manner that would make me a successful law student. However, this March, I suffered from a severe anxious episode due to the fact my medication stopped working, and I haven't yet fully recovered; as such, I had to LWD a course, and some grades dropped from A's to A-'s, so instead of the 4.0 I was on track for, it will likely be another 3.8/3.85 year. I'm worried that while my GPA is high, it is still below the median for schools like U of T, and I will need to address this in essays, but the most recent episode will be cause for concern as to whether I have truly overcome these struggles. Considering I'm a third year, I will not be able to put together a full 4.0 year before applications, which shows that I have overcome them, so any advice on how to address this in a way which would correctly explain the reason for my slight lower CGPA and this semester but not cause concern. 

[CleanHands]

You have an excellent cGPA regardless of your mental health issues. I'm open to correction from others here but I don't think the withdrawals should be an issue with your law school applications. There's nothing to address or explain, and it would look weird to devote an excessive amount of words to attempting to justify why you received a 3.8 instead of a 4.0.

Just focus on getting a great LSAT score and if you do you will have nothing to worry about or expand upon.

[LMP]

Agreed, I think this is a situation where you just don't mention the withdrawals.

If you want to talk about your struggles or challenges as a seperate thing, sort of a "look what I did despite this" or if you wanted to talk about how it might influence your choice to do law/go to a certian school, then I think that's fine (if actually relevant). 

But I don't think you need to explain away those withdrawals, there shouldn't be any doubts as to your academic abilities or ability to succeed in law school. 

[Dinsdale]

As above, you are well on your way.  Write a strong LSAT and you're home free.  Longer term, keep in mind that, while law school is not particularly stressful for those with legal aptitude, the practice of law can be a high-stress profession.

[Tryingouthere]

12 minutes ago, LMP said:

Agreed, I think this is a situation where you just don't mention the withdrawals.

If you want to talk about your struggles or challenges as a seperate thing, sort of a "look what I did despite this" or if you wanted to talk about how it might influence your choice to do law/go to a certian school, then I think that's fine (if actually relevant). 

But I don't think you need to explain away those withdrawals, there shouldn't be any doubts as to your academic abilities or ability to succeed in law school. 

This has been my plan, largely foregrounding the personal narrative with that which I have overcome and the growth that these experiences have led to, then getting into why I want to go to law school. The why is largely built upon finding legal extracurriculars, such as moot, in my first year, which sparked an interest in constitutional law and litigation. The main concern was how addressing the issues from this year could in any way compromise the claim that I've overcome past struggles, but this is all very reassuring. Thank you everyone!