Studying anxiety, I need some help.

[razer17]

Does anyone else have this kind of problem?

I tried looking it up on google and not many results came up.

BTW the symptoms include

My chest feeling like it's being squeezed
Heart racing
Throat swells to the point it kind of hurts to breath
And my brain slows to a crawl

I will qualify this next statement in two ways: Firstly, I just finished a degree in psychology, and in my second year we did a fair bit on stress and depression. Secondly, in my third year I had the same issues, and got coursework extensions etc. because of it.

Anyhow, I suggest you visit a doctor and get yourself some beta blockers. They will calm your heart rate and relieve the symptoms that you feel. I found that they're pretty effective, and I know others who have used them for test anxiety. It's not a long term solution, however. If you still have a few years of school left or are planning on going to college/university, then you may have to find a proper solution.

Beta blockers are useful in the short term, but you will still have the anxiety, you just won't feel it. That's not the best solution if you still have a long time left of studying. If that's the case, you may want to get referred to a proper mental health expert/ therapist/ whatever you want to call it. They should be able to help you stop feeling the anciety without drugs. That being said, as you are in the USA according to your profile, I don't know how your health care works now, so that may not be possible due to costs.

Edit- Also, if you don't want to visit a doctor, you could try some other things first. There's breathing excercises, listen to calming music, drink some camomile tea or something like that. That sort of things works for some, but not for everyone, but it's worth a shot.

I'd also be careful in regards to what medication they offer you. Even the beta blockers you should research. A lot of the drugs prescribed for anxiety can have pretty severe effects on your personality and emotional state. The difference that Beta Blockers have is that they aren't drugs for psychological ailments, they are actually just a heart medication, but it will lower the feeling of tight-chestedness and such. It also reduces the effect of adrenaline, which is what causes anxiety.

 

[DSK-]

Hmmm, I can't say I have had this anxiety you seem to be experiencing, unless it was in anticipation of an important test.

As Fappy mentioned, you should really go and see your doctor about it if it is giving you as much trouble as you say it is.

As for studying itself, it might be a good idea to have positive and focused attitude when studying.

For example, instead of instilling a sense of "I can't fail this test" or "I can't forget this" I would often think "I'll study for this test, but I'm confident I'll pass" and "Alright, I need to cover this, this and this".

Although it's probably easy for me to say, having strong belief in your ability/abilities in the subject matter and the confidence in yourself to achieve what you want to achieve in said subject will go a long way. Sorry I can't give any more advice on such things or be more specific :S

As for the studying itself, I only started studying during my Foundation degree and for the three qualifications I earned before it I did absolutely nothing. Thusly, I had no idea as to the rights and wrongs of studying and simply found my own methodology.

During lectures I would copy down any information I though I may need off the whiteboard, or simply copy it down anyway for the sake of handwriting practice (because my handwriting sucks harder than a forced induction kit if I don't keep a lid on my tendency to rush it).

I would also copy down the handouts given out in class, which were 90% of the time powerpoint presentations. Again, this served to help me process the information being explained and written down in the handout. I could also then read it back for notes later on.

As for studying at home for tests and in general, I'd often look back on the lecture notes/power point presentations of the subjects and again just copy them down word for word or if I had already done so, just read through them a few times over.

While doing this, I would listen to music and have a cup of tea on standby. Ever so often I'd take breaks and watch a bit of TV or mess around with the dog and then go back to studying.

I suppose the main points I can give are, when studying, try and be in as relaxed an environment as possible and be comfortable. Try and write things down since according to one of my old lecturers doing so enhances knowledge retention.


tl;dr

Try not to pressure yourself, have confidence and faith in your abilities. If you don't have faith in them, work extra hard on that subject, be conscious of your weakness put that bit more effort into it.

I hope you overcome your problem as soon as possible, and best of luck in your endeavours

(Also sorry for going off on a massive rant/tangent)

 

[Estranged180]

From my experience they will usually try to perscribe you antidepressants. Don't allow that.

Why not?

Sorry if this is low content, but theres nothing else to say.

Probably because being depressed isn't the same as having what they should be calling 'situational anxiety'. While the two often go hand in hand, there are cases when they don't, and the two couldn't be further from each other. This is when they start looking at an SRI instead of a beta blocker (SRI = Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor). In most straight up anxiety cases, an SRI is used to control the anxiety, and yes, they do have a fast acting version for situations that can be taken as needed.

When you see your doctor, make sure you ask every damned question you can think of. A person that isn't involved in their own health care is going to wind up with the 'band-aid on a broken leg' syndrome.

 

[Audun]

I have had similar problems with studying. The problem for me, was that all the little tasks and assignments got tangled in my mind, and i found it hard to differentiate between them. This led to problems because i couldn't start doing one thing without first motivating myself to tackle the whole workload.

I don't know what your situation is, but if this sounds familiar, then i suggest trying to think differently about studying and set small goals.