what do you do to study ?

[armanoo]

Hi to everyone ..:hugs:

i know depresstion and anxiety are main reasons for concentration difficulties.

and it's really such a big problem for me i dont know what i'm suppose to do and it's just getting worse and worse ..i'm always distracted

how do you guys force yourself to study or to concentrate on anything you do ?.. like at first i was a little bit able to study ...it was hard but i could achive something.. now i cant hold a book in my arams :weep:

not that i wanna read book !!.. but i have to pass my exams .. i'm law student".

so if anyone had been through this plz share it with us here and let us know how was it and what did you do to overcome the problem

[tom1]

I can't really offer any particular solution, other than to say to keep persevering. Having anxiety doesn't help, I must admit, but all you can do is keep trying.

I might be a bit harsh in saying this but, I get a little annoyed when you see people with ADD/ADHD given extra help for studying because of their disorder because they can't concentrate. Especially, when having an anxious mind with racing thoughts (OCD anyone?) can be just as debilitating, for example in your case.

/end of rant.

[Notator]

Hi Armanoo, I sympathise and have experienced similar. I used to be a lecturer and suffered from panic attacks particularly badly about the same time I was finishing my teaching qualifications. I found that I could read a book but the retention was 0%!

A couple of tricks for you... Try to make your learning more active and in short bursts. Active learning means not just reading for eg but writing the key points down, a couple of times. The concentration involved in writing which requires activity rather than reading which is passive aids retention.

Short burst learning, self explanatory really - a few minutes of really good concentration beats an hour of frustration. You may well find that if you can activly learn and retain, your short bursts may increase in duration because you start to feel like you are getting somewhere.

[sam_1]

I know exactly how you feel, last year i had to withdraw from a nursing course as i just could not concentrate. i dont feel like anxiety is taken seriously and that educators are very quick to dismiss it, my emotions are completely up and down and concentration is incredibly difficult, so is finding the motivation to begin to concentrate!
I am now on a psychology course and having the same problem, think i will have to withdraw from that too as i can see no other alternative, although that is quite frustrating as i have tried many psychiatric medications and know EVERYTHING there is to know about them as i religiously research the drug i am taking and how it works etc!

But anyway(sorry for the rant) just thought id let you know i can relate, perhaps research what you have to learn until you find out something interesting relating to the topic to motivateyou! oooorr....erm... drwaing pictures that relates to the topic, for instance mayb to retain dates you could draw a timeline with images of the event that happened in each year?

sorry if none of this helps!

I think perhaps people who have anxiety and obsessive thoughts are perhaps on a different level to those who cannot or do not think in such depth, which is why we should not have to conform to the lives society has predecided for us. some people are unique and not content with a 9-5 job for the next 40years of their life!

[Notator]

I suppose there is always the second line of the serenity prayer - accept that which you cannot change ( but I would always add "at the moment!")
There's plenty of non 9-5 jobs for us extraordinary people that do not require 5 years of studying!

[Cherbear]

I totally understand:hugs:Since I left school (I had an awful time there) I have been constantly giving up on sixth form/colleges because with my depression/anxiety I just couldn't cope. I think I went to about 4 or 5 colleges by the time I was 19! Then when I got into university, I was petrified but I actually found my timetable worked for me; my uni is over the road and I am only in 3 days a week. Sometimes I have to force myself in as I don't want to face people but I just take small steps. Now I am half way through a journalism degree and whenever the work gets on top of me (I get stressed/worried over the slightest thing so it happens a lot!) I make sure I write lists of what I need to do/plan well in advance and talk to my mum and bf about it.

Studying with anxiety can be really hard...but it can be done:yesyes:xx

[Notator]

Make sure your faculty know about your issues too, there is often much that can be done to help.

Also, might be worth doing a bit of research on "learning styles" and finding what works best for you, the more success you have, the easier the motivation to try becomes.

That being said, it isn't easy. I know it from both sides. On more than one occasion I was "saved" by an assitant lecturer who took over on a couple of occasions when I had to go "walkabout" in the middle of a lecture! And the Ofsted inspections were never that much fun either!

[eeyorelover]

I study for as long as my attention holds and when I start to realize that I'm not getting anything out of it, I put it down and come back a little later.
For me it's gotten easier with time as I've been in college for 3 semesters now. Seems like I had a far more difficult time when I first started but it could also be that I've just gotten used to it!!
LOL
Good luck with your classes :)

[armanoo]

ohh Dear Friends:shades: thank you all so much for helping me and paying much attention to my problem .. i really appreciate that..hugss :hugs:

tom.. it's even worse when you know you used to be cleverer than many others and now what they can study in half an hour .. it takes you two days to finish .. ! it's just too sad .. and by the time this could ruin my self confindence coz i felt like i'm such a loser !

Notator.. thank you so much and sorry you had been through the same ..:weep: it's really awful..and it's hard for me to make it active .. coz i cant sit and write for a long time i would go totally nuts .. i have to keep moving .. i disscused that with my doctor and she told me it's a result of depresstion .. that you just cant sit you have to keep moving .. but i beleive i should force myself to try coz now i'm being a drama queen !!


eeyorelover.. thank you :hugs: .. it's getting worse with me .. it was actually much easier before but now it does get harder !

and thank you all again for replying and good luck

[marnie]

Armanoo, you replied to my problem about half an hour ago. i want to help you. im at college, and to be honest im going through the same thing i want to give you advise becuase if your a law student and thats what you want to do then you deserve to achieve in it becuase iv been there, its such hard work. unfortunately it didnt work out for me. i wish it did but hey. you have to have faith in yourself babe, or you will get nowhere. have you entered for any learning support. or you have someone who can explain things to you in different ways rather than you reding from a book? maybe look on the internet instead? if your worried about looking dumb, then dont, because you have one life and you need to help yourself! so do whatever you can to benefit you. good luck babe.
marnie

[xx_x_sian_x_xx]

thanks for everyone that posted on here. :)

hoping these tips will help with my exams coming up, A2s, could this anxiety have picked a worse time to strike?!?!
need 3 As to get into uni, no wonder I'm bloomin' stressed!!! :(

hope everyone else is studying OK :)