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Anxiety + Depression + Uni = Bad times

So basically I sent this email to my course leader two weeks ago -

"Hi Amy,

You have probably noticed a rather large decline recently in my attendance, which I’m attributing to severe depression and anxiety. I’ve been suffering with these issues for the last 12 months, but they have drastically increased upon starting university, and as a result I have struggled to really connect or make any friends on the course, leading to anxiety and panic attacks when attempting to attend lectures, and then eventually leaving me very far behind regarding work because of the anxiety affecting my concentration. I’ve tried extremely hard to try and battle this on my own, because the course means so much to me and I have worked very hard to get here, but these issues are so out of the ordinary for me, and I’m currently visiting a doctor to try and resolve them.

I have been researching online the possibility of deffering until next year and starting the course from scratch in September. If this was possible, I think I would benefit greatly as starting again from a clean slate would give me the opportunity to make new friends and get fully involved in the course and take full advantage of everything, rather than constantly playing catch up and having to deal with people I just don’t click with. Starting again in September also gives me the chance to sort everything out with my doctor over the summer so I have a much better chance of succeeding on the course. I also have a friend from home starting the course next September, so having a friend already on the course would also be a massive help.

I definitely don’t want to waste the opportunity of being on this course by completely quitting, and I feel that soldiering on for the next two and a half years whilst not taking advantage of everything would be a poor choice given the chance to start again; I feel like I am so far behind there is little chance of me fully catching up, and even if I did finish the course I would always have the though that “I could have done better.”

I would be very grateful if you could give me the opportunity of deferring in these unusual circumstances."

I still haven't received a reply and i'm getting extremely worried about getting kicked off this course. Since I sent this email I have started a course of antidepressents and would be able to obtain a note from my doctor as proof of my diagnosis, but the lack of replies is making me extremely worried.

Part of me would like to think that there would be some kind of rules against the uni not allowing me to start my course again if it was due to an illness (I'm studying at Leeds Met,) but I also can't help but feel really responsible for some reason, even though I obviously can't help it.

I think I just maybe need some reassurance that everything's not gonna go terribly and that I have a decent chance of being allowed back on the course. If anyone has been in a similar situation I would love to know how you dealt with it/the outcome.

Thanks a lot
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Big_C.
Original post by Anonymous
So basically I sent this email to my course leader two weeks ago -

"Hi Amy,

You have probably noticed a rather large decline recently in my attendance, which I’m attributing to severe depression and anxiety. I’ve been suffering with these issues for the last 12 months, but they have drastically increased upon starting university, and as a result I have struggled to really connect or make any friends on the course, leading to anxiety and panic attacks when attempting to attend lectures, and then eventually leaving me very far behind regarding work because of the anxiety affecting my concentration. I’ve tried extremely hard to try and battle this on my own, because the course means so much to me and I have worked very hard to get here, but these issues are so out of the ordinary for me, and I’m currently visiting a doctor to try and resolve them.

I have been researching online the possibility of deffering until next year and starting the course from scratch in September. If this was possible, I think I would benefit greatly as starting again from a clean slate would give me the opportunity to make new friends and get fully involved in the course and take full advantage of everything, rather than constantly playing catch up and having to deal with people I just don’t click with. Starting again in September also gives me the chance to sort everything out with my doctor over the summer so I have a much better chance of succeeding on the course. I also have a friend from home starting the course next September, so having a friend already on the course would also be a massive help.

I definitely don’t want to waste the opportunity of being on this course by completely quitting, and I feel that soldiering on for the next two and a half years whilst not taking advantage of everything would be a poor choice given the chance to start again; I feel like I am so far behind there is little chance of me fully catching up, and even if I did finish the course I would always have the though that “I could have done better.”

I would be very grateful if you could give me the opportunity of deferring in these unusual circumstances."

I still haven't received a reply and i'm getting extremely worried about getting kicked off this course. Since I sent this email I have started a course of antidepressents and would be able to obtain a note from my doctor as proof of my diagnosis, but the lack of replies is making me extremely worried.

Part of me would like to think that there would be some kind of rules against the uni not allowing me to start my course again if it was due to an illness (I'm studying at Leeds Met,) but I also can't help but feel really responsible for some reason, even though I obviously can't help it.

I think I just maybe need some reassurance that everything's not gonna go terribly and that I have a decent chance of being allowed back on the course. If anyone has been in a similar situation I would love to know how you dealt with it/the outcome.

Thanks a lot


Sorry to hear you are having such a rough time of things, the university should hopefully be quite understanding but maybe you should go to your student support services/counselling services/welfare tutor as usually these services will help represent you and help you resolve your problems.

In my experience of things universities are pretty good at helping with these problems and are quite understanding, at the end of the day they want people to get through the degree and complete the work and will help you as best they can and if that means you need to repeat this year then I would imagine they will let you particularly as you can get a doctors note and you are on anti depressants, plenty of supporting evidence there.
Sorry to hear you are struggling with your course, but I can relate to how you feel.

My experience if that I had a report made to one of the lecturers about my recent behaviour because I was harming and sending messages of a worrying nature. I was called in to an emergency meeting and given no choice to take time out of the course for a year and rejoin the next year group from where I left off. It might just be the way I was at the time and the extreme circumstances which I needed the year out but I didn't think the lecturers fully knew how to deal with the situation even as health professionals, but not all lecturers are the same so your person may be better at dealing with it.

They would like you to complete the course and if it means taking a year out then they should support you in that decision. I am now back at uni to finish my final year and although I feel I am being constantly monitored for signs of the depression getting worse again, I know they are doing it for my best interests.

If you don't get a reply, try phoning or meeting them at their office, talking face to face is better although it may be harder...

look after yourself, and if you wanna chat more about it you can always PM me!
Hi,
I am in the same boat as you. I am in my first year at uni and overall I have attended about 20% of what I needed too due to my pre existing condition.

I too told the university about my condition and trust me I felt your fears - What if they kick me out? What if they are angry? What if I have messed up everything.

The university main priority is your welfare. Although you may be another number to them in theory when you approach your tutor it is there job to keep you safe and support you where they can. I approached all my tutors sent a very similar email and met with each one to discuss the help and assistance they could give. This assistance included if I couldn't get in I would email and discuss work available and complete it accordingly at home and meet in private with my tutors at various intervals to discuss anything I was unsure of or anything I didn't understand from my readings as I didn't have as much information as my other students would of had from lectures and seminars.

I found this helped great. It took a lot of pressure of the course and enabled me to go at my own pace and also helped build a better bond between me and my tutors so I could discuss anything I wanted.

Also it may be a good point to contact the university support officer or as well the university counselling services. These people are there to support you and in a way can offer better advice than your tutors may be able to do as this is there sole purpose to the university whereas tutors obviously get busy with lectures etc.

I wish you all the luck in the world.

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