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I've missed my entire first semester

Im making this thread as both a question and a warning. During freshmen week, I had the first panic attack of my life, and they kept happening. I've developed symptoms of social anxiety and depression and withdrew myself from studies. both due to fear of my peers and of the consequences of my ever-increasing absence, but it has since caught up with me. I'm trapped in a vicious cycle where I don't go to lectures because I have no friends, but I have no friends because I don't go to lectures. Im at my lowest point; I avoid my flatmates like the plague, and I force myself to be quiet as a mouse so they don't know I'm in my room. Its Christmas break now, and I've consecutively missed about 90 days of university.

SFL has recently mailed me a letter saying they've received word that I have withdrawn from my course, so here comes the question part: what are my options for trying to claw my way back into university? I've just booked an appointment with my GP to see about this anxiety and depression. In the meantime, is it possible for me to contact anyone to see if I can resit the year or am I ****ed?

Reply 1

BeingBoring

Original post by ahistory33445

Im making this thread as both a question and a warning. During freshmen week, I had the first panic attack of my life, and they kept happening. I've developed symptoms of social anxiety and depression and withdrew myself from studies. both due to fear of my peers and of the consequences of my ever-increasing absence, but it has since caught up with me. I'm trapped in a vicious cycle where I don't go to lectures because I have no friends, but I have no friends because I don't go to lectures. Im at my lowest point; I avoid my flatmates like the plague, and I force myself to be quiet as a mouse so they don't know I'm in my room. Its Christmas break now, and I've consecutively missed about 90 days of university.
SFL has recently mailed me a letter saying they've received word that I have withdrawn from my course, so here comes the question part: what are my options for trying to claw my way back into university? I've just booked an appointment with my GP to see about this anxiety and depression. In the meantime, is it possible for me to contact anyone to see if I can resit the year or am I ****ed?

It sounds as though you may not be in contact with your university at all? If you are just persistently absent then it is not unreasonable of them to assume that you've withdrawn from the course, although I would have expected that they should have made some attempt to contact you and clarify the status before informing Student Finance that you've dropped your studies. Your Uni or tutors are really who you need to speak to about your options, especially as your problems are being caused by welfare issues. They will almost certainly have been paid for the full year of your studies and if you defer at this point you will have incurred two years of student debt to do a single year, so if you can catch up and complete this year then it is in your best interests to do so. If it is your first year of studies, then unless you are doing a course with some very intense content such as law then I expect that if you studied hard from this point you have every chance to catch up on a few weeks of missed studies. You may find that they can facilitate remote access for lectures, or have recordings you can use - I am sure that they will have options for you if you engage with them correctly. I hope that you are able to get your issues under control, panic attacks are very frightening but they are controllable if you learn what triggers them and how to manage them. Seeing your GP is the right way to start that process, quite a few people I know suffered with panic attacks but have learned how to keep them under control and no longer cause them problems.