Young people

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Eeep! When study is overwhelming! - Tips, ideas and coping strategies

replies: 51

Hi! Just thought I’d make a post with some tips for study. I know this is something we can all struggle with. These are all suggestions so feel free to take them or leave them! Hope they help! If you only remember one thing, let it be this: You are important. Your grades don’t define you. (support) Studying can feel isolating but know you’re not alone! Reach out – and find or make friends that can support you along the way. If you’re having trouble finding some friends, join some local communities or clubs! They have lots at Uni’s and even stuff like open days are great ways to meet new people and find out what’s happening. Study groups can also be a great way to meet people and stay motivated. Also remind yourself why you’re doing this; inspirational wallpapers or quotes can be super inspiring. Remember the saying about the oxygen mask? If you can’t take care of yourself first studying will be harder. You are important. You know the drill - water, food, exercise, sleep. Try to stay calm. Stuff that might be able to help include mindfulness, breathing exercises, colouring in, going for walks, journaling, listening to music… If you’re struggling – reach out. See a therapist. Talk to your student counsellor. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Also lots of Universities and TAFE offer disability services – which includes conditions like Depression and Anxiety. (study) Find the right study space for you. Maybe that’s in your room, or a coffee shop, or the library. Some people find that noise helps; other people not so much. If you like particular kinds of noise, you can find ‘coffee shop’ noise or ‘rain sounds’ to help concentrate. Make a plan. It helps to do it often so it becomes a habit. Anytime you get a due date, write it down. Maybe you could use a diary, planner, bullet journal or an app. I find the 30/30 App helpful - study for a bit and then break for a bit. You can also get add-on’s for your computer to block sites like Facebook if you find them too distracting. Find out what study technique works for you. Do you like cue cards? Mind maps? Colour coding? Does highlighting stuff help you remember? Charts, maps, diagrams? Recorded lectures? Goals! These are so important – not just writing down deadlines but rewarding yourself for meeting them. Even making smaller goals like ‘read two pages from a textbook’ can help. Break it down into bite size pieces, and don’t forget to reward yourself after!

NEW TO THIS FORUM? Please read this first

replies: 0

The Young People space is a sub-forum within the wider Beyond Blue forum community. 1. Its purpose is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss anxiety, depression and other related life issues. If you are aged over 25, please be mindful that this forum is a space for younger people to connect and provide peer support for each other. 2. Content from this sub-forum is displayed on both the beyondblue and youthbeyondblue websites. 3. Please bear in mind that some members find content relating to suicide and/or self-harm distressing or triggering. If you would like to post on these topics, please do so in our Suicidal Thoughts and Self Harm section. Please see also our guidelines for making posts on this topic. Posts made here in the Young People sub-forum containing content relating to suicide and/or self-harm will be moved. 4. These forums are moderated, so your posts may not appear straightaway. Information on how our system works can be found here. Being familiar with our community rules can help ensure that your posts appear online as quickly as possible. 5. This is a peer support community, and to get the best out of being here we recommend that you 'give support to receive support'. More on how that works here.

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Anxiety and depression have ruined my life

replies: 3

This is my first time posting, I haves I much anxiety about trying to tell people that I'm not okay, so this is hard for me, I'm so used to being the strong Unbreakable person. 9months ago at work a patient died, I do medical scanning and it was during a scan, it was a massive shock and I soon fell into depression, anxiety and I guess PTSD. I have struggled so badly, I tried medication however the side effects were too much. I have been seeing a psychologist and know all the things I need to do to get better but I just can't seem to put them in place. i know my emotions have been erratic and I'm all over the place,but I thought I had a good support system. But a couple days ago my boyfriend of 7 years left me. He had been lying to me and not being there for me when i needed. i am now back to square one and dont know what to do. I have no close friends because I find it hard to open up to people. I don't have the greatest relationship with my parents as I'm adopted and have the fear of letting them down. I'm so used to being the over achiever and perfect role model that no one believes that I'm actually not okay. My anxiety has become so bad that I am too scared to leave the house and normal daily things are too hard. How am I meant to move forward when I am being forced back?

Would talking to a psychologist help me feel better?

replies: 8

Sorry if this turns out incoherent, like most people I find it very hard to begin talking about myself. I am 24 years old and I think I might have problems but I'm very nervous about seeing a GP. I feel like rather than having problems, I could be exaggerating or making excuses to/pitying myself. I'm also unfamiliar with this stuff since where I came from (I am currently an international student, for some reason, I find this difficult to admit), we didn't have a very coherent health care system, and mental health is an extremely foreign concept. Throughout my life, I have not made a single friend. I did have a close "friend" during the time I was 16 to 21, when I was in the UK, but she was...not good, and pretty much made that entire period very...terrible for me; which was the reason why I burned the bridge, even though it was the only social connection I've ever had. I've had no real relationship and sex always made me feel bad afterwards. I also do not feel good about my family. We do not get along and my parents have always made the case that I "was born with a bad/deficit personality" since my childhood. Bad things always happen when I spend time with family. My mother is very stressed, being the sole financial provider as well as carer; she's unhappy as she hasn't been treated well at all since the day of marriage. It is basically a typical bad East Asian family. She projects a lot of her negative feelings on me. My experience with both school and work was not too happy, either. I was always bullied and an outcast at school (when I told my parents they repeatedly scolded me as they thought it was my fault). I was unable to study the fields I was interested in, as my parents used several methods to force me to study what they wanted for me. It was something I was really bad at. Unlike most people, I could never quite get over it, and by the time I was in my second year in university, I was failing several subjects and had become a complete shut-in. I sometimes tried to go to class but I always felt extreme pain whenever I was reaching for the doorknob. It was so difficult that I just kept resigning myself to staying inside my room. I landed an office job after graduation, again I was completely withdrawn from everybody and received many complaints about my inability to socialise. Currently, I'm having troubles that would be catastrophic if my family knew, I'm scared. It takes me many hours to get up, showering and eating feel like an effort.

Party drugs leading to depression

replies: 2

Hi I'm a 18 year old who isn't very social used to stay at home all weekend by myself didn't really have any friend until I starting going out to clubs/raves doing ecstasy/cocaine meeting so many new people who some have become close friends today but my problem is the days after all the partying on the weekend I feel depressed and unmotivated questioning everything and the. just crawling by the work week so I can go out again on the weekend and do it all over again and I'm not sure if I can go without the party drugs but I'm tired of feeling like shit the whole week for 1-2 nights of fun

Hypochondria

replies: 10

How do people deal with this? I struggle every day. It eats at me and I feel like I'm exploding and rotting. All logic swims away from me and I am in what seems irreparable insanity and misery. I don't have anyone to talk to or see. Don't even mention doctors or psychiatrists or psychologists, I have tried so many and have not found relief. I have stopped taking medication. I have good weeks, rarely and many bad nights with ok days sometimes awful days. I think loneliness makes this all worse than it would be. I don't think there's anything I can do.

Can't trust anyone/let people inyo my life due to past trauma and periods of homelessness

replies: 5

Where to start? Well I'm looking for general advice on how to feel like I can trust people around me. I'll give a little context first: I'm 22 years old, and sort of managed to find myself homeless in Oz (I'm from the UK) after my own family that I was staying with in Australia kicked me out about 18 months ago. I had a bit of a messed up adolescence due to a couple of traumatic experiences and being in and out of a psych unit due to depression, anxiety, and self harm. For the most part I've since recovered. Since being kicked out there has been periods of time where I've either had to 'rough it' or squat to keep a roof over my head and had to go without food on several occasions. This could also involve living alone without any friends for weeks/months at a time. I've also got an incredibly addictive personality and regularly engage substance abuse to try and cope, including hard drugs. I won't go into specifics but let's just say there is no one I can call for help, be it financial or emotional support any more. It probably wouldn't surprise you to hear that I have self-esteem issues and find it really hard to trust anyone, along with occasional bouts of crippling depression, though these are usually short-lived; I haven't self harmed in nearly 5 years. Now, with all this being said, I do sort of have a life together for the moment; I have a job and a room in a shared house currently. I would even say I have a loosely defined group of friends for the moment who I see fairly regularly. My real question is this: How can I learn to trust people again? I have a real fear of intimacy, to the point where I don't feel comfortable sharing personal feelings or letting people into my life properly. I always feel like I need to be 'ready' in case things all fall apart again. Another weird thing I've noticed is I don't like people physically touching me any more. I want to be able to trust people again, and have the confidence to share my thoughts and feelings with people, especially now that I'm no longer in 'survival mode'. Anyone have any similar experiences or advice on how to be able to make meaningful connections and build up trust in people?

How do you attempt to deal with your loneliness?

replies: 15

Looking for some strategies, sorry if i'm leeching. For the most part i've adjusted to being lonely and I don't talk to me friends online like i used to, just people i don't even know on forums. I don't mind being lonely but the only thing i get super anxious about is being completely secluded, e.g no chance of contact (distance, no internet) and this has lead me to make some poor decisions with friends. How do you guys do it?'

I don't know what to do

replies: 6

For the last two years ive been in love with a girl from school I'm just gonna summarise this time At the end of grade 9 (i just finished grade 11) we became close, to the point where i thought a relationship might form, however at a party at the end of school she hooked up with some dude, none of us even knew. That sucked, but oh well. Later in mid grade 10 we ended up going out for a couple of weeks, and they made me feel so good. she then broke up with me and mid this year was going out with my best mate, who she had also liked back just after we dated. That was real painful. They recently broke up, and i am still really good friends with her, not to the point of getting together of course but enough so that when she hooked up with this other dude at this party the other night it deeply rattled me. Now i thought that perhaps she had changed, because i know her so well and never expected that. But apparently I'm wrong. Now i just feel so incredibly bad. I don't know what to do because even if we do get together one day, will this whole cycle just repeat. I cant really imagine a life without her and this has stopped me when it comes to getting close with other women. So i just feel bad because i dont know what to do, and also feel really betrayed and shocked.

I can't tell if I'm depressed or just stupid

replies: 3

Is there something wrong with me? I don't know why but i feel very sad. I don't really have any issues with my life, except an identity crisis so nothing really. I believe its a personal problem. I feel as though at times I drown in my mind. I'm scared of my own thoughts so much so that I used to be afraid to be left alone to think. I always have fun while I'm with my friends but its as though I'm never truly happy its just a facade put on so no one will ask whats wrong cause its not like them saying anything will help. I feel like I don't want to hang around my friends much anymore because they are overly happy. I like being my myself now my mind is still scary but it fits. It's begs a question to be answered am I doing this for attention or is something wrong. I start crying for no reason and generally feel closed off like I have a strong fence or wall around my hart no one can break through. I feel as though I'm not really worth it and I don't actually fit in where I thought I did. Is something wrong with me everyone around me starts new relationships were I'm stuck in a void. I keep coming back to I'm not good enough. I'm fat. I'm not pretty. I'm ugly. and so on but no matter how many times I go out I plaster a smile on my face which I cant tell if its real or fake. I feel as though there are moments I am happy but they seem to fade if I'm not constantly surrounded by the person making me 'happy' or is that just a distraction. I'm so confused.

Can't make it past the next step

replies: 2

Hi Everybody, I'm new here, So not sure how to begin.......... Well, I will start off with why I am here. I am autistic, but I am at a level where I seem like I don't have autism at all but the anxiety and fears are still there. I seemed ok when I was at high school but when that finished it went out of control, I was in a bad place, very bad but I have it under control mostly after years of practice and acceptance of who I am. But when I was going through all of this I longed for friends, even if it was just one, it was hard to put myself out there. The time has come, I'm at a stage where I could try to make some friends, although the anxiety is still there I want to try but I need help to do so and I don't know how to go about it. I have thought about going to those groups that help people like me socialize, but I feel like I would end up being a carer. I know that there are people out there that are worst off than me and I hope that they can make it through there troubles. I NEED SOME HELP TO MAKE FRIENDS OK, thanks for listening

My first post.

replies: 2

Sorry in advance if this is formatted incorrectly as it'll be a messy spray of my emotions. I finally decided to make an account on this forum after checking posts on it every few months for the past year or two. I have some minor depression and i haven't really considered how bad my anxiety is. I'm a 14yo male with hyperhidrosis and i just can't seem to find a way to be happy (why i'm here). I had been depressed for a short year before meeting my now ex. I devoted all my time into making her happy, some games and doing school work. I didn't care what happened as long as she was happy. I was fairly depressed during this relationship with leads me to think it was infatuation rather than love. About 3 months ago she started acting strange and was always busy doing things. I would give her space and not talk to her because she was busy and whenever she wanted to talk she would take a long time to reply (this had always happened, just longer than usual now). Skipping many things about what has happened and minor details she pushed me away shortly after. Ever since then I haven't really been happy, even after exercising often to try to get dopamine flowing but nothing seems to work. I sit down all day doing nothing and occasionally doing some things. Sometimes i get 10 hours of sleep, sometimes i get 2, just depends on the night. My uncle also has what seems to be a very bad case of schizophrenia which has left him under care for about 30-40 years. My parents are also narcissists that want to control me and prove their superiority for some reason. So, i look for a way to become happy again, no hobbies hold my attention for long and i've lost all interest in video games. I hope to maybe help some people on this forum.

Eeep! When study is overwhelming! - Tips, ideas and coping strategies replies: 51

NEW TO THIS FORUM? Please read this first replies: 0

Anxiety and depression have ruined my life replies: 3

Would talking to a psychologist help me feel better? replies: 8

Party drugs leading to depression replies: 2

Hypochondria replies: 10

Can't trust anyone/let people inyo my life due to past trauma and periods of homelessness replies: 5

How do you attempt to deal with your loneliness? replies: 15

I don't know what to do replies: 6

I can't tell if I'm depressed or just stupid replies: 3

Can't make it past the next step replies: 2

My first post. replies: 2