The Student Room Group

Anxiety

Does anyone here suffer from anxiety? I've got it but I'm too independent to want to see someone about it. Its ok usually but gets really bad around exam time i.e. my OCD flares, I stop eating and have to force myself and I wake up feeling like throwing up every morning. During my AS levels it triggered a depression, which subsequently led to my totally messing up one module I was meant to get a high A on :frown: I'm now retaking this but I'm now scared that a) I'll flunk it again and b) I'll trigger another depression (it went mysteriously after 4 months).

Has anyone seen a psychotherapist and found this helpful? I have a friend who's very similar to me in this and seeing one didn't help. Thing is, I know what causes it but its not something that I can change (I can't change my home environment; I can't stop my sister's bulimia and after 9 years nor can I cope with it either). In some ways, I can't wait till I go to university and get away from this all, it just gets way too much at times.
You might want to see a doctor if you suffer like that. You say you know what causes it but they might be able to refer you to someone who can help you cope with everything.

I'm in the middle of A levels and last year I failed one of my exams and I'm terrified of history repeating itself but if you're well prepared and try and stay level-headed about it all then I think that helps. Try not to set your sights too high and put more pressure on yourself, sometimes teachers predictions are wrong. I know that being in the actual exam feels totally different to mock ones and that can change how you perform (I also did badly in another exam last year that I was predicted a A/B in!!). Just go in and breathe and try to answer your questions. You can always re-take. :smile:
Reply 2
Hi,

Really sorry to hear about your worries. I'm actually right in the middle of studying anxiety, and OCD in Psychology at the moment, so if you would like me to e-mail you my information then please PM me. It might help you to understand a bit better how it is affecting you and what your options are. Hope to hear from you xx
Reply 3
I've got severe anxiety disorder... when I get anxious I get really bad stomach aches. I've been seeing a councellor, which has really helped. My doctor referred me.
Reply 4
I can relate, I often used to have irrational anxiety...for such stupid reasons and it was embarassing to talk about - when I was young I was terrified one of my yo-yo's would break...then it was that I was going to die from a blood clot, and then that my brain would be starved of oxygen and I would die in my sleep because I slept in an awkward position. Intellectually and rationally I knew these notions where preposterous, but my underlying fear made me terrified, and I would take compulsive measures to combat them - checking my jugular vein, coughing after chewing making sure I didn't choke... It was terrifying, and I was in a prison of anxiety that I could never share. One day I had the worst panic attack, for no apparent reason, I woke up at about three in the morning (my time of worst fear, since it is dark and everybody is asleep and cannot help you), and I felt I couldn't breathe, my heart beat faster and faster, like nothing before, so fast that my whole body was vibrating and buzzing. I didn't know what was happening to me and I genuinely thought I was going to die, a REAL genuine fear - death was that close at only 17 years old, the day before I was going to meet the person I loved at the time. I rushed into my mum's bedroom for help and eventually I calmed down. When I talked about it, the turning point came - anxieties are only our own mental processes for self preservation - normally they are useful (I won't put my hand in fire again, since I'll be burned and feel pain) but they can be strongly associated with other matters, for no apparent reason (why should I have been so worried about yo-yos?). When you realise this from an external perspective and that you are fearing a genuinely unlikely event as a natural reaction, but it is not the true reality - you can gain this opinion by talking to others openly and gaining an outside view, ideally one that conflicts yours, and placing your anxiety in a real context. Of course, this doesn't totally eradicate you fear, it may occasionally resurface mildly, but you will be in a far stronger position to defeat it. If you have more severe anxiety, then a psychologist may help, but so are people experienced in life, which may be more helpful than you can imagine.
Reply 5
Thanks for your replies. I know I should really go and see my GP but its hard when you've lived with it so long, you just think well I can cope a bit longer. It affects me day to day as well, I'm scared of doing things simply because I believe people don't expect me to. I've been judged a lot from a young age, which means although I'm quite perceptive, it inhibits me because I don't feel I should act in a certain way around certain people. Part of me wants to be outgoing but other part is just too scared.

I totally understand the yo-yo thing Eien (mine actually did break, several times), I had a nightmare right at the beginning of my study leave for my GCSEs that someone I cared about, among others, jumped off a roof. I was terrified for months after, that she was going to die. It was a completely irrational thought and I've had many others, I think its partly to do with my past but like I said I'm too independent to be able to see how a doctor could help me.

I'm not as scared of my resits as I was, I've found other stuff to focus on and I know I've prepared as much as possible. But I've no clue how I'm going to get through my A levels, especially as its over a longer period of time. I thought I was going crazy during my GCSEs, got to the point that I just couldn't take any more revision, my nerves couldn't take it, which didn't help my results.
Reply 6
I suffer from anxiety and depression and i use to have a bad case of OCD, for the depression then seeing a counsellour would be your best bet, but if you got OCD issues aswell i would reccomend going to see a psychologist and having some CBT (COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY)
Its not as technical as it sounds