Presentation worry and social anxiety
Hello.
Im thinking of going to Uni in 2015 but something is worrying me alot. Basically i suffer from social anxiety, depression and panic attacks and i have read that the course i am looking at doing has some presentation's/oral assessments.
I was unable to do presentations at college due to all of this as i panic. Is there a way around this? maybe a way to be assessed differently or am i screwed.
Im looking at doing Japanese Studies.
Im thinking of going to Uni in 2015 but something is worrying me alot. Basically i suffer from social anxiety, depression and panic attacks and i have read that the course i am looking at doing has some presentation's/oral assessments.
I was unable to do presentations at college due to all of this as i panic. Is there a way around this? maybe a way to be assessed differently or am i screwed.
Im looking at doing Japanese Studies.
virtually no course will include no presentations as it is an important skill to have in the workplace
I would advise you put in as much work as possible to try and gain some control over your anxiety as like I just said, this is something which may come up at work and so on and you wont be able to avoid it forever
for university if you register with the disability service they will be able to provide you with support and the likelihood is your lecturers will be able to sort something out with regards to presentations
I would advise you put in as much work as possible to try and gain some control over your anxiety as like I just said, this is something which may come up at work and so on and you wont be able to avoid it forever
for university if you register with the disability service they will be able to provide you with support and the likelihood is your lecturers will be able to sort something out with regards to presentations
I had a similar problem at university. I spoke to my lecturers and the disability department and instead of doing presentations I did extra essays.
Although, if you're doing Japanese studies, I take it that you'd be learning the language? Language classes have a lot of speaking in front of other people so you might struggle with that and I don't think there's any way round that.
Although, if you're doing Japanese studies, I take it that you'd be learning the language? Language classes have a lot of speaking in front of other people so you might struggle with that and I don't think there's any way round that.
I know that the open uni don't do presentations on any of their degrees. I know its not the same as going to brick uni but you will still be able to get your degree and never have to do a presentation/oral exam (bar maybe language courses).
I have found that when I,m nervous about a presentation it help to do the presentation in front of a few close friends first. they can give you pointers on the content and delivery and it will build a bit of confidence because you will have already done it in front of some people.
I usually write a script for presentations too which help me know exactly what i will say so i don't get stuck for words.
There is also the option of asking your health professional if they can prescribe any medication to help with anxiety and panic for these situations. I have don't that in the past and my doctor was quite understanding.
I have found that when I,m nervous about a presentation it help to do the presentation in front of a few close friends first. they can give you pointers on the content and delivery and it will build a bit of confidence because you will have already done it in front of some people.
I usually write a script for presentations too which help me know exactly what i will say so i don't get stuck for words.
There is also the option of asking your health professional if they can prescribe any medication to help with anxiety and panic for these situations. I have don't that in the past and my doctor was quite understanding.
You really don't need to worry about this, the university you wish to attend will definitely have some sort of disability team that helps students through this sort of thing. They most likely would get in touch with your lecturers and help them to understand the situation. Presentations aren't essential, many universities may give you extra work/essays to do instead, or they may make acceptions once they realise you suffer with social anxiety and let you do it in front of just one lecturer. I have social anxiety too and my experience of university is that they have very good teams set in place to help you through your time there. 
Original post by Anonymous
Hello.
Im thinking of going to Uni in 2015 but something is worrying me alot. Basically i suffer from social anxiety, depression and panic attacks and i have read that the course i am looking at doing has some presentation's/oral assessments.
I was unable to do presentations at college due to all of this as i panic. Is there a way around this? maybe a way to be assessed differently or am i screwed.
Im looking at doing Japanese Studies.
Im thinking of going to Uni in 2015 but something is worrying me alot. Basically i suffer from social anxiety, depression and panic attacks and i have read that the course i am looking at doing has some presentation's/oral assessments.
I was unable to do presentations at college due to all of this as i panic. Is there a way around this? maybe a way to be assessed differently or am i screwed.
Im looking at doing Japanese Studies.
I do japanese studies at uni and I also have anxiety and depression! It will depend what uni you are looking at but for japanese you won't be doing any extremely long presentations, the longest I've had to do was for a japanese history class in second year which was about 15 minutes (although there were only 5 people in the class so it wasn't so bad).
Things I'd recommend are speaking to your head of course if you literally physically cannot face any presentation aspects, and (as anti-depressants didn't work for me) you can get beta blockers for the doctor and just take one 15 mins or so before your presentation which will help calm you down a bit. If I am reading off paper as well I'll hold a notepad behind it so if my hands shake it doesn't show as much.
Also a lot of the time when you do presentations at uni you are standing behind a computer doing a powerpoint as well so there is far less attention on you, and usually most people in your class will be very nervous too. In fact times when I used to do presentations and I was so nervous I was on the verge of a panic attack, classmates told me afterwards they thought I wasn't nervous at all and seemed really confident.
Please don't avoid going to uni because of your anxiety, if it helps take a gap year, sign up for CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), and get a job and you will be so much more mentally prepared for uni.
