what is wrong with me?

Question

I didn't do so well in one of my chem class...that's where I get panic attack and all. now for some reason, I don't have the ability to do my homework anymore..I want to do it though..but each time I sit down, my mind can't concentrate..Instead, I worry. Then I end up not doing any of my homework. My grades are going down because of this procrastination. I really want to do my homework...

What's wrong with me? Why am I like this?

Answer 1

Listen to me, you DO NOT have ADD or ADHD. And you do not need a scrip for adderal (correct spelling).

All you have is anxiety. You have a fear of failure. I bet you hold yourself to very high standards, and when you did poorly, you felt that you were worthless. You dont want to get that feeling back, and so you are afraid to even try. Your spirit has been broken.

What you need to do is to lay down in a quiet room where you can be all alone. Do this once a day. Imagine someplace beautiful that you have been. Someplace that makes you feel totally relaxed. Think of that for about 30 seconds. Now imagine your teacher is walking towards you. She/He smiles at you. She hands you a test and walks away. Now you are still in that peacful place holding the test. You are all alone. You sit in a quiet place and take the test. Next imagine your teacher comes to collect it. She smiles and tells you that you did great! You look at the test and you smile. It makes you feel proud to do so well.

This will recondition your mind to feel peace again when you do your homework. You must do it every day for about 10 minutes. It can be different situations (doing homework and getting an A, a project) and different places (different peaceful places).

Next time you take a test or do your homework, first imagine that you are in that peaceful place. Then get working! You have so much to offer the world!

Answer 2

If these feelings of stress are really taking a toll on your grades and happiness, you should deffinitly check with your parents to see if you could maybe talk to a psychiatrist. They will ask you a few questions and determine whether or not you have a problem with anxiety. There are many low dose medications that can help you get over your anxiouse feelings that cause you to procrastinate.


Another idea would be to good 'Stress Relieving Techniques".
Here are a few off the top of my head:
*Make sure your work station is clear, and well lit, this way your brain wont feel cluttered and you can really concentrate
*make sure nobody else is in the room and the TV/radio is off so there arnt distractions, unless music helps you concentrate, then make sure the volume isnt too high.
*keep an agenda book of all your assignments so you can check them off as you go and wont feel so overwhelmed
*dont try to do your homework all at once, maybe do one subject when you come home from school, one subject befor you eat dinner, and one after. take time between to do things that will help focus and calm you. take a bath with lavander salts, take your dog for a walk if you have one, watch some tv, call your friend
* dont stress over your chem class, seriously, i had never gotten below a B+ in all my school career, until i took chemistry. I passed with a C+. And that was only because i kicked my own butt to do the work. Infact! junior year i took a study hall instead of physics because thats how difficult the math/science subject is for me. I still have a good GPA too. So dont worry about it, chemistry is really difficult, and its totally different from the sciences they teach up until 10th grade, no wonder its confusing!

you seem intelligent and well read, dont sweat it =]
Good Luck

Answer 3

Because you are worrying about something. You have something on your mind. Also you said you are procrastinating. I tend to do this too.

Here is something I learned in one of my psychology classes that I hope helps somehow:

Punishment--A --B---Neutral----Reinforcement

Punishment = something bad.
A = a punishment closer to the worst punishment imaginable.
B = another punishment but less punishing than A.
Neutral is meant to be in the middle. It's not a punishment and it is not a reinforcement.
Reinforcements = good things.

People always will choose the thing that is less punishing ....meaning B.

A is failing your work.
B is in the end having to do your work. For procrastinators this is punishing as they don't like to do their work. They do it as it is less punishing than failing.

I know you want to do your homework though.

This is the best answer I can give, sorry. I am not sure if it is understandable ...but hopefully it helps.

I mean this whole thing nicely by the way.

If this doesn't help you then I wish you good luck and that someone else comes up with a better answer.

Justin

Answer 4

First of all I found chemistry to be pretty hard, and I am now 55. You are probably letting your mind run away with fear of failure. When you mind gets on that, it probably spins it into a world catastrophe. The more you try to make yourself stop thinking about it, the more you think about it.

But the good news is your brain can't think of many things at the exact same moment. You can give it something else. So, first, put a rubber band around your wrist. When you catch yourself worrying about things, snap the rubber band. Then think something like this (change it to fit your circumstances) I have gotten through hard things before and I will get through this or I don't have to be perfect, just the best I can be or I am a good person with or without chemistry. You pick your own thing. When the worries come, throw your brain something else to think about. It can't think about two things at once.

Or set aside a worry time. Every day at a certain time, it is your job to sit and worry about chemistry for 15 minutes. During that 15 minutes you can't think about anything else. At the end of 15 minutes you save your worrying for tomorrow.

Answer 5

It sounds like you may have an attention deficit disorder. Talk to your doctor about your problem, and they may be able to prescribe proper medication or give you other ideas to deal with the problem. You can also try to study in short sessions. Like set a clock for 15 minutes and have a goal to complete a specific portion in that amount of time. Then take a break doing something else for a little while and then do another 15 minutes of the work. It may be easier for you to concentrate if you try to do the work in shorter sessions, otherwise you may get too overwhelmed by it all. Take everything one step at a time. And don't feel bad about yourself, lots of people have similar problems with concentration. You also may want to let your doctor know that this is stressing you so much that it is causing panic attacks. I'm not one to immediately suggest medicine, but talk to your doctor and he/she can let you know what is best for you. Good luck, and hang in there!

Answer 6

take drastic action. first prepared to drop the course in case you are failing ahead of time. then it will not affect your gpa. that is important. see the clinic and explain your depression and anxiety. you are feeling the pressure and it may be smart to drop all for now and just work on what is getting you all shook up. first i think your probably should just go into the registrar's office and drop the chem and take it over later if you choose. major you should change you major if chemistry is not your bag. you know? i had to drop out of the heavy duty math at one point. couldn't cut. panicked and couldn't hack it. maybe it was fear or lack of ability. i should have dropped a couple of those courses. and i should have left the engineering school where i did not belong but wanted to major in ee and was never cutout.

Answer 7

Obviously, people on here can't really know for sure; but I do know that when you get stressed out your body's chemistry changes, and something like elevated cortisol levels can make you have trouble concentrating.

Obviously, if you've already had even just the one panic attack you're stressed out. Maybe there are things in your life or the world that have you stressed out. Maybe its the fact that you've experienced the problem with the chemistry class.

Here's one trick you could try: Read the questions/material aloud to yourself. You can whisper if that makes you feel more comfortable. As you read aloud listen to what you're saying. I found this works.

I believe what happens is this: If you have "chemicals going on" from feeling tense or stressed out they cause difficulty concentration because, essentially, Nature has designed us to numb out mentally a little under stress. It can feel as if you're short-circuiting between what your eyes see and the place in the brain that is supposed to ultimately process the information.

Obviously, your ears can't read; but they can listen. If you can make you eyes read the material enough so that you don't have to get it to your brain and process but only have to concentrate enough to read the material aloud you're not asking your visual perceptual process to do too much. You're asking your ears to listen to what you're saying and send the information into your brain that way instead.

For me, its easy to listen and take in information that way even if I'm too stressed out to be able to concentrate on reading and taking in material visually.

I suspect if this trick works for you too what will probably happen is you'll start to calm down about your school work and be able to return to normal reading and homework after you do this for a while.

I think there's a chance you need a trick like this (or one you think up yourself) to help you get back to your old ways. I think you could be in a stressed out cycle that won't get better unless you find a way to break it. This type of trick MAY break it for you.

If the problem goes on too long, and you can't find a trick that helps you break the cycle ask your parents to set up an appointment with a psychologist who can help you address the issue. Don't let your school work suffer. There are students who go through school as you feel right now, and their grades and future academic prospects suffer severely as a result of it.

One other trick is to become a little compuslive about doing every shred of homework as soon as you know you have it and can do it. Procrastination has a way of snowballing and getting you into procrastinating as a way of operating. This, too, causes major problems for people. If you can decide that in the near future procrastination is your enemy, and if you can become compulsive about not procrastinating AT ALL you'll break that cycle too because not procrastinating is so rewarding and feels so good you'll get so you never want to go back to procrastinating EVER again.

Also, tuna salad helps relieve anxiety and stress. (I've found this, but now an area mental health facility has reported this as a medical fact.) "Evil" as this sounds, make sure you have some sugar too. "Evil" as they may be, sugar can lift your mood, and fat can calm you down. The combination of the two don't make for a healthy diet, but they can make for a better mood and getting more done.

Decide to make sure you'll get enough sleep as well. People can't concentrate if they haven't had enough sleep.

Good luck. You are by no means alone with this problem.

Answer 8

Hi,
There is this guide by anxiety expert Joe Barry , he has taught thousands of people to be panic free without any medication using a revolutionary new technique, http://www.panicaway.co.nr , its really a great guide , it should help you get rid of panic attacks forever in a few days

Hope this helps you and wish you the best of health

Answer 9

well you are like this because you are letting your home work control you and be the master of you realm. what you need to do is to take all the things that makes you nervise and form a imadgenary bubble in you mind and one by one put the things that make you nervise in side that bubble. if you are worried that you will fale take that little voice in your head that's saying that you will fail and eliminate it in that bubble realaxe and also take all the tings that distracts you from your work out of your room. just think back to when you were not like this and feel it coming back picture the way it was in your head and make it come brighter and brighter in your head and belive that you will be back the same way and there you go your back the way you were, i know this because i was like that too.

Answer 10

Non of these answeres will help! listen what you gotta do is just sit down or lay down in a quite place and relax, drink some coffee or your favourite drink but it must be hot... breath deep and think of a happy place... your happy perfect place... and then without worrying just grab your books and start from the beginning, if you don't snap something try and hit the sheets again but you canno be exhalted just take it easy and you will see it helps alot!