A-levels are making me depressed

Hi, I’m in my second year of a-levels (I didn’t do AS though, my school just does all of the exams at the end of the 2 years). But I’ve recently had very frequent thoughts about killing myself because I’m so worried, scared and stressed about my a-levels. I really don’t want to do them anymore but I don’t want people to think I’m a failure and I don’t know what to do instead of a-levels. I’m trying really hard to stay determined and motivated so I can just get them done but I’m struggling so much. I’m worried that I’ve actually become depressed because all I want to do is lay in bed and do nothing, I try to eat but I just feel sick all the time and I’ve lost the motivation to even take care of myself and have showers, brush my teeth etc. I’m sorry.

Reply 1

poopieface

The Thread starter isnt a coward for being depressed or about exams.. thats not how depression works its just a common misconception. To give you a (hopefully) more helpful answer, I feel similar, depressed no motivation for anything, etc. I usually tell myself two things: I can get through this short amount of pain (really exams are gonn be over sooner than we realise) and get rewarded with a long-term positive reward by having studied and getting the grades that allow me to do what I want to do in life. The second thing I tell myself is that, after all, studying is something you do for yourself. Even if pressure comes from parents or teachers. Behind all these things -you are doing this for yourself. I know this can also be very discouraging because you might convince yourself that you are not worthy of good grades, but I think in some way it is a positive message because it takes a lot of outside pressure off, as all you are doing is trying to do something for yourself and no one else. Hopefully it helped a little bit :smile:

and top tip,,, although you might be unmotivated to keep yourself clean and tidy, those things affect your motivation and mentality more than you think, showering and brushing teeth give you more self-worth and might get you more motivated to work -just try it out.

Reply 2

justsomeguy17

Alice has given really good advice, I would definitely focus on getting back in rhythm with your showering etc and, what worked for me was forcing myself to sit down at my desk for 30 minutes and just choosing some work that I had to do or some revision. Building up gradually.
You should try and find out why you're feeling depressed, is it because your grades aren't good? If so, laying in bed isn't going to help things.
I would also speak to someone about how you're feeling because it'd make you feel better, especially if you see a counsellor, this situation is very common for them.