- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 46w ago
Getting through school with OCD
Has anyone felt very anxious from OCD and still successfully gotten through school? If so do you have any tips? (I’m an engineering major in college)
Has anyone felt very anxious from OCD and still successfully gotten through school? If so do you have any tips? (I’m an engineering major in college)
it’s all about learning about yourself and who you are and about finding a career / school/ major that best suits you’re needs and wants especially as a person with OCD. Also all schools should have a Disabled Student Services and OCD is under that. They do differently accommodations to help with that. Also you’re school work !! this can be an upside i like to look at with ocd is i am very organized use that power and channel it into something that is good something that is positive. I organize everything when it come to my school stuff! As well as note taking! Look and find different note taking app or tools and try to find the once that best fits your needs and classes. maybe take a care and life exploration class at your college ! School hasn’t always been easy for me mentally but oh boy did i graduate with 4.2 Gpa! i’m currently getting my masters in psych ;)
@Boosboots Well I’m a third year in civil engineering and I’ve had internships already. I have it figured out and I like it. It’s just recently somehow going through a negative thought cycle which I guess is OCD and it’s made me anxious and not focus in class. Then I worry if I’ll not be able to do well on tests and I have two tests coming up this week I’m not ready for yet bc I wasted time being anxious. I also don’t want people to notice that I have an issue. But that’s great you graduated with a 4.2 gpa, congrats!
Hi!! I am in a similar position. Definitely a battle, and I find my symptoms get worse during high stress periods like exams. It is distressing but I’ve found that as much as you’re able to, leaning into school can actually reduce symptoms: obviously it reduces stress to accomplish tasks, but also, it gives your mind something else to focus on. That said, it’s not always possible, and it is incredibly important that you’re kind to yourself during these times. If you need to drop a class, or take an extra semester, that is 100% okay. People do it all the time for all kinds of reasons, including physical and mental health issues, but also just stress buildup! STEM degrees are incredibly demanding, and there is truly 0 shame in needing to take breaks or lighter semesters. I find it helpful that many of my neuroscience professors talk about their ‘failures’ — poor grades, semesters they took off, not getting into graduate schools. Having a hardship like a mental illness does not mean you won’t succeed.
@madeleck It is good to stay busy and focus on school. In the past I had to drop classes because I lost confidence from being depressed and anxious. I’m taking a lot of credits now but my classes aren’t as tough as before except a couple of them. I don’t really wanna take longer but I guess if I have to I will. Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it. Because I feel like this will ruin my life and it will never end. I got an internship with a company I really wanted and I hope by the time I start I’ll feel myself again. What’s your major?
@Anonymous I study neuroscience, so different for sure but still very demanding. I get that completely — sometimes it feels like if I can’t succeed in school there’s no way I’ll succeed in a job. This isn’t true! School, especially STEM I find, had an odd and incredibly demanding structure and little immediate reward — the feeling of getting an A lasts about 5 minutes before you have to start worrying about the next assignment. Jobs have financial motivation, much much much more teamwork and communication, and you already know what has to be done a lot of the time — applying skills instead of acquiring them. Honestly, of all the successful people I know, very few of them were straight-A students. Things happen. University is a complicated time of life. I am taking 4 courses/semester and taking an extra semester because I found I was ALWAYS overwhelmed with 5, and my mental health is more important than a timeline I made for myself in high school. Take time to decompress after the semester and I’m absolutely sure you’ll feel up to the internship by the summer. PM me anytime if you want to talk more!
@madeleck Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it. How do I DM you? Im so tired of noticing these sensations and it’s shifted from breathing to noticing my heart and I barely slept last night because of it. I have a test tomorrow and idk what to do with this. I wanna get rid of it.
Please share your stories! I have really bad real event, false memory and POCD. I’m struggling a lot right now feeling undeserving, feeling like everything I’ve ever done in my life was meticulously calculated. Funny thing about OCD is even if I see someone do something way worse than me, it won’t phase me unless I’d done it. For example, something minor I did that really could mean nothing, my OCD convinces me it proves my ocd right. In light of the disordered times, I’d like to ask for someone to share their ocd recovery story, maybe some tips and how they did it. It’s feeling pretty impossible for me right now. Thank you!
I’m a Catholic Christian and I love my religion so much. I have found that every now and again, my OCD becomes triggered and I find myself distancing from God & my faith, and avoiding (or trying to) avoid God because religion starts to give me anxiety or trigger my OCD. Lately, like the past week and a half, I think I’ve been doing well. I’m still anxious (and talking about it makes me anxious too, so I guess this is kind of an exposure), but I’ve been trying to keep practicing my faith nonetheless. I’m proud of myself, I’ve been able to keep my OCD at bay and continue to live my life and practice my faith. I even have anxiety right now, but instead of dwelling on “what if?”, I’m trying to continue telling my OCD “so what?” I would just like to know, what do you guys do to deal with moments of anxiety or fear or irrational thinking?
I'm going off to college tomorrow and I'm dreading it, I'm dreading everything. Though I didn't fully realize it, what I'm now almost certain is real event/pure-o OCD has been making my life feel completely miserable. From when I wake up to when I fall asleep, especially as of recent, I'm just constantly scared, anxious, guilty, and sad. I genuinely have not felt relaxed or happy in months, and it feels like there's no escape. When I'm taking a walk, hanging with family/friends, my mind is just racing and I can't live in the moment. Physically speaking it affects me too, my heart rate is high, short breath, sweaty, all how you would feel when you're nervous, but just all the time. This exact theme happened to me before in the past and latched on for a bit before fading, so I assumed that I grew out of it, and it hadn't hit me again for over a year until March. But now that it's on again and I actually recognized that I'm dealing likely with a mental disorder it just makes it feel so hopeless and unending, like this will forever be my life. The worst part is the nature of my OCDs, even if I know what I did isn't a big deal, is that it makes me guilty around anyone. Like I'm hiding something from everyone I talk to, and it makes me feel like I've lost all my innocence and I've lost the bright, happy, ambitious person I was before this all came back. All of this makes college so scary because all I can think about is how if I keep feeling like this I'll never be happy there, It's so hard to think optimistically or positively and this is just killing me day by day. I don't want reassurance because I know that just makes it worse, but is there anyone out there who's been in this sort of situation? If so, what did you do to manage, how did recovery look, what's your life like now? Any help would be appreciated so much.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond