Anxiety is making university unbearable and unmanageable

[TheRavensDesk]

I am currently struggling with severe anxiety and hence I am behind on my university work and am unable to attend my compulsory classes which contribute to my grade. How do you think i should deal with this? I live 2 hours away, so travelling and leaving my house is incredibly difficult for me and the days leading up to Wednesday when I have to go are terrible. I have missed all the classes the past 2 weeks and I cannot miss anymore, but I just cant do it. Should I defer until next semester and get my mental health in check before returning? I am making efforts to manage it now, but I am unsure as what to do currently in my units, which I fear I will fail. But I also fear that if I defer, I am succumbing to the avoidance behaviour I have adopted. I made the first step yesterday and saw my GP and i am on the path to getting medication, but I just don't know what to do currently with university. I am 18 and I am a first year, but I feel like a failure if I stop...What do you suggest?

[Moog92]

Hi TheRavensDesk,

I'm very sorry youre struggling right now. I was in a similar postion with my University study. The first thing to do would be to contact student support and talk to a counselor. They're there to help you, and its often underutilised by students.

I was put on a disability support program after providing adequate mental health plan documents which i got from my GP. Regularly seeing the conselor will help you immensely and they can converse with your course coordinators about granting extensions and variation to assessment where needed.

If you feel like you've fallen too far behind, perhaps taking a deferral would be beneficial. But i'd strongly suggest talking to a counselor first.

I hope this helps! good luck with your studies!

[Guppy]

hey theravensdesk

ive had a similar experience to yours where my work had piled up on me. are your lectures recorded online? it can feel daunting when theres a mountian of work to catch up on, especially when there are other factors in your life that are affecting how you operate. i never liked group activities in my tutorials because they always made me anxious and took away from my learning. however all hope is not lost, if the content is available online you can generally catch up at home, it just might take some dedication and planning. personally ive managed my university anxiety by making a plan of action to break down these huge tasks into smaller, manageable tasks. if the content is not available online, differing may be a better option to see someone about your mental health and start fresh in the new semester or move onto something different. it does not make you a failure, everyones experiences are unique.

Guppy

[tuna_fish]

Hi TheRavenDesk,

Seems like we are on the same boat. I'm also 18 just starting uni but really struggling with keeping up with classes as well. I think I went insane after I spontaneously changed my units from computing to environmental science after realising I wouldn't be able to commit to learning such heavy math topics, which has now led to me questioning my entire future and existence.

I had no motivation to even do any of the work as I'm unsure if this is the right path for me. I've missed classes for too many of my units as well but after I talked to a counselor, they recommended me to keep onto at least one unit for the semester while doing some activities on the side help discover myself and what I like. After that I can switch into a new course in semester 2.

What I fear most is that I won't be able to have made up my mind by then and I'll end up doing a random course I think will get me a decent job. I have no clue where to start in terms of who I want to be and do in the future so I am very lost too.