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Coping with Exam Panic Attacks?
UniGirlBot asks: "I am a distinction / high distinction student who normally doesn't have any major levels of stress during exams. Today I managed to have a major panic attack during an exam on databases and ended up leaving the room in tears about halfway through a 3-hour paper. This panic attack was an absolute first for me and I now have to begin the special consideration procedure, which I am grateful exists. For the record, I did study enough and the course was something I enjoyed doing. Does anyone out there have any advice on what I could do stop this from happening again, please?" If you've been in this position, how did you recover?
Have you tried pretending to be a gurl and posting a question to Slashdot?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Simply stop caring.
Just smoke a joint before your exam. Works for me :)
Take a shot before the exam. It will come the nerves right down.
I dunno. I never got deep into the exam fear thing. I figure, if you pissed away the semester that badly (or the material just whistled right over your head) then exam time is really too late to do anything about it.
Rest, fun and relaxation usually did the trick for me. I have a long history of acing big exams, and I generally lowered my effort and workload in order to pull it off.
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
No single test is going to make or break your career/future. It may mean that you don't get your first choice of college or job, but that probably won't matter 10 years from now.
If there is a company that won't look at you because you have a 3.9 GPA instead of a 4.0, you probably don't want to work there anyway. Far more important are the projects and activities you do outside of class. I know I would rather hire someone with a 3.0 GPA and open source development on their resume, than a 4.0 student who hasn't done anything outside of class.
Now, I'm not saying that you should blow off exams, but it is just a test. You will have many more of them in your future. If you blow this one, you can try a bit harder on the next one.
Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
with closed eyes. If possible, "step outside yourself" and see the silliness of it. Of course, im my book ain't nuthin' wrong with a shot and a beer before the test...
"You know you're narcissistic when you quote yourself in your sigs." -- PRoPAiN!
Yep been there too under similar circumstances. I feel your pain. Unfortunely, at least in my case, the first panic attack meant that next time I was in a similar circumstance I was worried more which seemed to help induce another panic attack.
I did a bunch of research online to learn about Panic Attacks. I asked my doctor about them. My doctor offered medication which I declined. In the end I just suffered through so many panic attacks that after a while a panic attack became somewhat anti-climatic. Almost routine. At that point they dissapearred almost overnight.
Your experiences may vary of course. Good luck to you.
whj
P.S. Worse thing though is don't be ashamed or embarrased. That'll make it all worse.
I have no specific advice for your situation, but there are a few possibilities.
The most general is to talk with a psychologist about your experience. It's not a panacea, but you may gain some insight into what led into the attack, and how to cope with the situation if (when) it occurs again.
Next up - make sure you're taking time to relax in your daily routine. It's easy to fall into a pattern of overwork that becomes counterproductive, especially when the situations get grim, like exam time tends to be. Even a simple thing like taking a daily hour long walk can go a long way toward relieving any stress you're feeling.
Also, if you aren't already following a good nutrition plan with attendant exercise, consider starting. Feeling good physically is the first step to feeling good mentally.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
There is always the medical option. Your doctor/counselor can usually give you a light benzodiazapine to take the edge off while you study. I'd also ask you if there are other problems in your life that may be distracting you or causing you stress? The simple option is to go get help. Also, a doctor may give you Adderal to help you concentrate. Try it.
The most likely cause of exam anxiety is to think about an exam in a polarized way: perfect or failure. This is not a realistic method since it is highly improbable that you will score a perfect score all the time. Additionally, everyone faces an exam where they find out that they were unprepared and have their ass handed to them.
If you are half an hour into an exam and you realize that you have not prepared and the exam is kicking your ass you need to regain your focus before anxiety sets in.
#1: don't think about the reprocussions of failure *during* the exam, or directly leading up to the exam.
#2: don't think about how poorly you are doing on the exam--think about how you are performing the current question.
#3: realize that your exam score was determined prior to the exam by the effectiveness of your study program. You aren't going to get lucky beyond statistical variances to dramatically change your score during the exam. The actual taking of the exam is just a formality. Try to make it reflect what you know, not what you wish you knew.
If this is the first instance of you having a panic attack like this without ever having been a "worried" person in the past, then you want to make sure you don't have a diagnosable problem. Personality changes generally aren't so sudden without an underlying pathological condition.
A similar thing has happened to me, albeit not as seriously. Just use cold, hard logic. Do not let emotions get the best of you. Reason it out, you know this, you've been studying this for months, you have done countless other problems like it.
Instead of looking at the whole assignment as a problem, break it up into more manageable ones. Chances are you know something, or else you probably would not have enjoyed the class. Try to identify which part is giving you trouble and reason it out.
The title of this article is ``Copying with Exam *Panic* Attacks?''. If you are panicking because you are afraid that you will fail, reason it out: if you walk out, you are sure to fail. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and all that.
Seriously, just relax. Think of it logically, and you will be fine.
Althought this totally sounds like that tip right out of Lost, but I actually did this before Lost was on TV.
Let the panic consume you absolutely and completly for 5 seconds. But for only 5 seconds. You'll be fine afterwards....
Either that, or you'll be on the floor currled up in a ball...
You can read about other people experiences at http://www.panicsurvivor.com/
Mid-terms and final exams are always good catalysts for future ulcers. However, if you're always prepared and up on the material, then it is difficult to see how you could become upset unless you landed in a class where a good number of other students are blowing the curve just as much as you are.
:)
When I was in college, I made 100% in all of my programming classes (literally, homework, tests, mid-terms and exams), while I struggled in subjects like electromagnetics and combinatorics. Conversely, some of my classmates were just 'naturals' at mathematics but could not seem to grasp programming languages. (Although, I could see it at the math level since most of their sentences were put together with one-letter words and lots of punctuation.)
Are you finding yourself in this type of situation? Perhaps you are finding yourself in a subject that you don't feel you are 100% comfortable?
Don't sweat it, do your best. Think about the times in the future when you're going to dream about going back to High School and acing everything or perhaps dreaming about the times you were at college and you found out that you had signed up for two courses you never went to, "drop day" just passed and there was a mid-term the next day.
At least I'm not still dreaming about being naked at school... I got laughed out of all of those.
Maybe your whole approach to stress management is wrong. It sounds to me like you consider being prepared a big part of avoiding anxiety. That's not it at all. It's important for your confidence, but if you managed stress well you could go into a test knowing you'd fail yet keep your feathers unruffled. I recommend putting yourself in a chain of extremely stressful situations to give yourself practice dealing with the anticipation of failure, the act of failing, and the aftermath. It'll teach you to keep a cool head. Either that or ruin your life, leaving you with nothing but tales of hard times to tell the other bums gathered around the garbage fire.
The bottom line is: never get too involved in anything. "Too involved" varies a lot, but it basically means that you know when you're not thinking rationally, and you put a stopper in it whenever you aren't. Squelch unproductive thoughts before they can grow into full-on worries. Eventually it becomes second nature. Just don't become so detached that you sink into apathy. That's exactly the wrong thing to do. There's a correct amount to dwell on everything, and it's up to you to figure out what that is and limit yourself to it strictly.
The flushing of all the chemicals in your system will help loads. The extra sleep will give you energy through the dull test, and the OJ will give you a morning brain-kick. All natural even.
Good luck and have fun!
LOAD "SIG",8,1
LOADING...
READY.
RUN
I don't want to be a smartass, but I was always much calmer in the exams where I knew what was going to happen because I was prepared for it.
I have never had a panic attack as you describe, but I had a friend in university that suffered a few such attacks, also while writing exams. She also had a panic attack while driving to an exam, which was a very dangerous occurence.
What I learned from her is that there is no way to cope with stress-induced panic attacks as long as the stress still exists. You will have to graduate to make them stop, or tone down the workload.
University can be very stressful for a lot of people, especially in more technical disciplines such as science, mathematics or CS. If you still have a number of terms until you are finished, I'd say your best course of action would be to take one less course a term for a few terms, or even take a term off. The difference in stress between 4 courses and 5 (or 6!) courses a term is substantial.
Good luck to you
As someone who has been there, I would suggest talking to your physician first. He/She can then help you figure out a plan of attack. My Panic Attacks stemmed from basically the same problem as you. Mine became so bad I got caught up in a feedback loop. I would have an attack, then get so worked up about having another, it would lead into one. It became so bad I became EXTREMELY agoraphobic. Not something I would reccomend to anyone. I finally went and got help from my Dr and a mental health professional. I am now on medication and have been attack free for over a year. The medication I would suggest is Paxil or the generic equivalent, but your doctor would be the best one to check with. Hope this helps and good luck!
Don't be japanese
I'm at a very different moment in life than you are, but several years ago I had a severe panic attack "out of the blue" while managing a large project. Once I'd understood what was going on, I responded like a good little geek and checked out the research on panic attacks.
While you should definitely seek the help of a professional, as you can dangerously misdiagnose yourself, the most likely cause is a high level of stress that you haven't been managing. Anxiety disorders in general become progressively harder to treat the longer you live with them, so don't try to just tough this out.
If you need it, a psychiatrist may be able to prescribe medication which can provide short term relief. Far more effective over the long term will be to engage in some cognitive therapy and learn to recognize the early symptoms that you are not managing stress and respond to them before your stress results in anxiety.
I would recommend the site www.anxieties.com as a good place to start. It's run by a respected clinician in the field, and while the site advertises plenty of materials you could pay for, it has a fair amount of information and advice available for free.
The good news is that if you take this seriously, respond quickly, and learn to comprehensively manage your stress, then your odds of avoiding a chronic anxiety disorder are quite good.
When I was in the last couple of years of my undergrad -- computer engineering -- the way I'd deal with hard core tests (Calculus IV, control systems, etc) was by completely shifting gears right before the test.
Guys would always be cramming that last hour or so before the test. Look, if you don't understand how to do a Laplace transform you ain't gonna learn it 30 minutes before the test. To freak out then ya gotta be fracking crazy.
I have a lot of non-technical interests, and a big one is sports cars and sports car racing. I'd take a couple of car porn mags and read about sports car restoration or racing skillz in the common areas while watching every one else act like nut cases. It really calmed me down, and reminded me that I knew this stuff.
There's a saying in the world of professional soldiers -- you fight like you train. Same about tests. If you know the material and are comfortable with it you will test like you train.
I had several in college when I was working on my undergrad engineering degree, and not always around exam time. Like you, I enjoyed the subject and I was excelling in the class. Turns out I just don't deal with stress well. People make jokes about it on here, but it's not something to be ashamed of. (Their narcissism must protect them from actually having to deal with real emotion.)
This isn't something you can just "turn off" by trying really hard. Some people have suggested you see a physician. That may not be a bad idea. There are several physical things that can cause this and a doctor can help examine those.
What I found worked best for me was trying to keep a sense of perspective. It felt like everything in my future was riding on how I did in school. Anyway, what worked best for me was keeping a healthy sense of perspective (life goes on even if you have panic attacks about exams) and to make sure I had at least an hour each day I could spend doing something non-school related (reading a book I wanted to read, star-gazing, playing Half-life, etc...) These times helped me to disengage my brain for a bit so I was no longer trying to do but was instead just trying to be.
Best of luck to you. I applaud your openess in bringing your question to this caustic and cynical crowd.
Eat some 30 minutes before the test and you'll feel fine. Take it a few times before a test to determine your threshold between calm and mind-numbed, because you don't want to make yourself retarded right before an exam. I take a .5mg tablet before gigs and exams and I haven't pissed myself in terror since.
I have never really had a panic attack, but I do get nervous at big exams. I have had good performance at exams, including university exams. (I on scholarship, doing a PhD in robotics...)
Anyways, I find that if you can channel your nervous energy into thinking about the exam, especially during the actual 3-hour test, it helps a lot. I don't know if it was the adrenaline or just nerves, but I generally worked faster during the exam period. This might have to do with the fact that I tend to work better when there is an immediate deadline in front of me.
I did cram for exams quite a bit, usually a few hours before the exam, just to keep some of the tedious material fresh. This is pretty useful for subjects that require you to commit quotes and information to memory. But, for engineering and science subjects, its more about understanding than memorisation, so, I tend to just chill out before those exams. This may include music, some gaming or just playing some sports. I personally don't do much socializing before exams, as I find my friends can be very, very distracting. And I end up remembering most of our conversations, as opposed to exam material.
A final piece of advice. Don't think about anything else outside the exam. Not that job you want after graduation, not about the parties and not about what would happen if you fail. Just think about the exam and try to recall, in your mind, what you know and what you don't. Spend your time learning about what you don't know. When ever you feel pressured and panic, just say to yourself "What can I do to make the situation better?" and you should, after a while, just automatically either relax or re-read some parts of the material that you think you need extra work on.
Berserk Manga > All
The above sounds like an awful thing to bring up, but don't confuse panic attacks with psychosis. I had panic attacks in HS and - years later - so did my daughter. Both of us worried ourselves sick wondering if the next stop was voices, social shunning and the lockup ward. I was an A student and just backed off a little. My daughter got a lot of relief just knowing that panic attacks are familial, can be controlled with medication and relaxation and that panic attacks aren't a sign you are a basket case. Turns out that my daughter also discovered that SLEEP - aka getting to bed before 11 PM and just stopping doing the homework - made the greatest impact on her anxiety and her ability to deal with stress. Another writer complemented you on bringing this up in a Slashdot venue... same here. But do yourself a favor and get to bed early, no more caffeine, get some exercise and have some good times. You'll eventually learn to live with the panic attacks (or, mostly, the worry about having the panic attacks). If they continue or get worse, call a Clinical Psychologist or Psychiatrist as soon as you can. So many of these things, if treated early - even the emotional disorders - resolve and get quickly better. The professionals will help you through the worst of the crisis and are really worth it. I'm a nurse and someone who's lived through this and speak from personal experience. Good luck.
Hi.
Sorry to hear about this; while I've never had an attack while taking an exam, but I have had my share of panic attacks.
Short term strategies (for when they hit):
1) If you have some benzos (xanax, valium, and the like), take one. Xanax takes about 20 minutes to hit, and it is possible to take a dose that cuts the attack without making you a drooling idiot. Really, having these around (esp. legally) will make a difference in your anxiety levels.
2) Close your eyes and breathe deeply---FOCUSING on breathing. You want to get more oxygen to your brain; apparently the shallow breathing of anxiety increases anxiety.
3) If you can get to a water fountain, a cold drink might help. I find that cold, sugary drinks are soothing---just no caffeine.
4) If you can get to a quiet, relatively isolated place, that might help too.
5) Keep reminding yourself that this really sucks, but it is just a panic attack and you're not going crazy and you're not going to have a heart attack.
Long term:
1) Get enough sleep, eat properly, exercize, and cut back on caffeine. (Sorry, this is what works. I was hoping for smoking, boozing, downing Krispe Kreme donuts and freebasing chocolate covered espresso, but no such luck.) As an aside: if you're smoking pot (especially if you're a habitual user), you may find it necessary to stop.
2) If the attacks continue, you'll want to get with a therapist who can help you figure out what your triggers are and how to work through them.
3) If you have panic with depression, I recommend meds. They have their downsides, to be sure, but they have made a huge difference. (Be forewarned that the first med you've been prescribed will work quite right.)
Of course, I'm not an MD---just a Ph.D. (in philosophy) who has some personal experience with this. YMMV, and be sure to get professional help if this becomes more than a one-off.
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - H.L. Mencken
1) Cut out on sugary drinks completely. They're empty carbs that make you jittery during the day and mess up your teeth. The jury's still out on caffiene I like it, but don't OD on the stuff. It's just as hard to focus through caffiene jitters as it is through soft drink jitters.
2) Going to sleep early: Good. Taking drugs to get to sleep early: Bad. I've noticed that if I take something like nyquil I have a much harder time getting up the next morning, no matter what time I go to bed. Unless the exam's at 6am, I wouldn't suggest going to bed any earlier than 9pm, but I wouldn't suggest pushing it much later either.
3) Orange juice good. It's a full day's supply of vitamin C. High protien breakfast also good. While some people prefer steak and eggs, I like steak and steak. Or oatmeal.
4) Exercise also good. A little exercise in the morning always seems to wake me up. If you're on a cool campus you can go straight from your steak and steak breakfast to the gym for a quick round of kick boxing, then you'll be set to face whatever challenges the day brings!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
YMMV, but as a survivor of several panic attacks over the years I have found that they've usually been brought on by combinations of stress and lack of sleep. My suggestions:
Seriously. I learned it in 7th grade health. I'm a sophomore comp sci major at a major research university. I don't know if it's "real" meditation, but it works. You don't need to spend an hour doing it. You don't even need to spend 15 minutes. Only about 5.
Here's a sort of crash course based on what I've found works best for me as a short break in those gruelling 3 (or more) hour exams:
Sit up. Close your eyes. Take deep slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let your body feel all the feelings you ignored (one at a time), moving from the bottom up. Feel the shoes on your feet all the way up to the hair on your head that your body ignored. Don't smell things if you know they're not cool. Taste if you can. Listen to the tiny sounds in the room. Make sure you're still taking deep slow breaths. Think yourself through it. Think about how irrational it is to panic. Think about how even if you don't get a perfect score, in the long run, it won't matter that much. Now come out of it just as slowly as you went into it: put out your irrational thoughts. Let go of the feelings you were just paying attention to. Breathe normally. Open your eyes. Go at your test again.
It may sound like a crock, and it did to me at first, but it may work.
--<Mike>--
Sleep... as much as you can before your exam. Thats the single most inmportant thing to cope with exam panic attacks. Happened to me a year back. had 2 exams back to back on the same day. Stayed up all night. Prepared nicely. Ended up getting D in both the papers (Power Systems and High velocity fluids). Also seek medical attention if necessary. A tab of nexito/xanax do work in cooling you down. Also never ever take red bull before any paper. Fks up with your system. Thoughts just dont flow. Anyway, if nothing works, just go drunk to the exam.
I hadn't had any before, I'm sure it was stress related to other situations. Anyway, i was so panicked that I never went there. Turns out that I knew all the questions, so i lost a gold opportunity. So, I presented the next exam, and failed :-/ But who cares, I repeated the course (yes, lost a semester) and passed :)
:P
So, chill out, the world's not gonna end - i mean, you aren't Jesus saving the world. It's just a freaking exam. Take it easy, ok? The only people who have died because they didn't pass are usually japanese students - and that's because they kill themselves in shame. (yeah, weird guys).
So, take my advice. ENJOY! Whether you pass or fail, ENJOY! Later you'll miss school time when you have to work 8 or 10 hours a-day
Joke aside, I really don't know what's going on with society. Suddenly this exam thing looks like you're ruining your life if you fail. I recall a video that a guy didn't complete college and his life wasn't ruined. He still got a decent job, and managed to live a happy life.
So my advice is: Rethink your priorities, take a deep breath, and stop pressuring yourself that much.
I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder some years ago, and certainly know what your going through. Since this isn't something that seems to happen frequently to you, talking to a doctor probably isn't needed. However I'm actually going to say (as someone who is on medication) the "pop a pill before the exam" thing might not be a best idea depending on you. People tend to forget these are drugs mess with very sensitive brain chemestry. Just cause these are legal and generally don't hurt people if they take a small dose doesnt make them right for everyone. What I use for time to time panic attacks is this stuff called "Bach's Rescue Remedy". You can get it in a health food store, it's an herbal remedy that I swear by, and know quite a few people who I never expected who also use it. Its about 20 USD per small vial or spray bottle, calms you down in about 20 minutes. great for general case of presentation nerves, too. If that isn't your style, you could always just take a moment to pause and say, "calm down, this is not the end of the world". (Especially if your a decent student like so many /.-ers. Ü )
Cat doesn't have my tongue, /.
I've never had a panic attack; I just suffer from anxiety. Strange how some of my best moments turn into anxious nightmares really fast. When I start getting anxious about tests or work, I sit back and think about it from this perspective. If I can list how and why I got questions wrong, or why I can't figure out a question, I realize I'm probably doing better than the other students. Knowing where you are getting behind, is better than people who never really realize they are behind. Once I realize I've probably set the curve, I relax and take the rest of the period to check and do what I can. Thinking to myself that I know what is going on, makes some of the best moments of my life. Especially when they let me relax on some of the best days of my life. You could laugh and think that the panic is just a sign you are getting warmed up. Those tests do matter, but in the end you will not remember most of them, even a few months from now. Doing the best you can and the best of anyone around you, should be an awesome feeling. If it is not a great feeling, pretend it is one and you'll fool yourself pretty quickly. YMMV
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
Someday you'll be in the real world and you'll get the call that your mission-critical project that just deployed crashed/wedged/can't restore it's database. Someone is loosing thousands of dollars an hour and you have to jump on a plane and fix it in the middle of the night. On that plane flight, you'll realize that the exam wasn't such a big deal after all, and you'll handle the current problem OK as well. Just suck it up and do it. That's what we all have to do...
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Some kind of beta blocker? (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c /a/2004/10/17/MNGB599PJC1.DTL)
I have suffered from panic attacks in the past, including a week-long low-grade panic during a trip to North Carolina early in my post-doc. It has helped to me to learn as much about panic as I could. I like to think of them as being like a mental cramp, particularly a cramp in a muscle which you can't stretch (I get cramps under my jaw, for instance): there's nothing you can do to stop the cramp, but it won't do any permanent damage, so all you can do is ride it out. Same with panic: you can't fight it, you just have to ride it out. (This article may be helpful too.)
:)
Although I am still an anxious person by nature, I haven't had a panic attack in a couple of years, and I've been off all anti-anxiety medication for the past year. It's not easy, but learning to treat the panic attack like a mere inconvenience is the best way to get over them. There are many techniques which can help you do that, which I won't go into here. If you're of a scientific bent, you might try analyzing the panic attack as an eyewitness in the name of science ("Fascinating, my heart rate seems to have increased...."). A good therapist can help you learn appropriate coping strategies. If you find yourself prone to frequent panic attacks, then a short-term anti-anxiety medication like Xanax can be a huge relief while you develop said coping strategies; said medication is meant for use as needed (like an aspirin, although more addictive) rather than for long-term or daily use.
And, while panic attacks don't have to make sense, it might be a good idea to think about whether there are any big stresses in your life which you may be bottling up. Something to do with databases, maybe? (Maybe you're worried about the U.S. government storing information about you, or the insecurity of credit card numbers in corporations' databases, or something.
Just say to yourself:
"I will not fear
Fear is the mindkiller,
Fear is the little death
That brings total Oblivion
I will permit my fear to pass
Over me and through me
And where it has gone
I will turn the inner eye
Nothing will be there
Only I will remain."
Repeat several times.
I tend to get very stressed before tests and especially finals (though I'm only a high school sophomore/junior next year so take this for what it's worth). I find that if I try to do anything special before the exam it makes me feel stressed because I'm treating the exam as a Big Deal. If I don't vary my routine and just show up for the exam like it were any other class, I'm calm and not about to rip my hair out. This has served me well, though obviously YMMV and these other posters definitely know what they're talking about better than I do.
Whenever a situation is interpreted as threatening in some manner, the body tends to go into a fight-or-flight response. So-named because it (the body) gets ready to fight or run away. Or freeze. What happens is the blood that used to be flowing to all parts of your brain retreats to the "reptilian brain" at the base, and to the arms & legs.
To draw the blood back into your forebrain, you can take the pads of your index and middle fingers and place them gently between your eyebrows and hairline. After a bit you'll feel a steady thump-thump-thump. When you have proper blood flow in your grey matter, everything just works better.
When I first started doing this particular exercise, it took quite a while at times to find the pulse. But now it's almost instantaneous. I guess I've re-trained my body to keep its thinking skills whenever a stressful situation occurs.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
My apologies for being a bit cryptic, and posting AC. Still, this may be useful.
/16?"
I was in an uncomfortable situation, and in possible real danger, and the terror struck. TERROR, you don't know what it means until you feel it. Anyway, I realized the feeling was all in my head (and adrenal glands) and went someplace safer (Burger King, actually, terrified by the cashier, who I assumed could see my fear), and I ACTED NORMAL. Knowing that the panic was not needed to assure my survival, I calmed down after a while and went home. I did NOT get into the feedback loop of being afraid of being afraid. And it never happened again. Not even in extremely life-threatening situations I later found myself in.
To sum up - it's NOT useful to panic, unless it makes you run away from the lions. When you have an attack, THINK - "Hmm, I'm feeling quite terrified. I'm going to ignore it. Now, what's the mask on a
Go to your student health center and discuss your situation with the staff. Get an appointment with both a physician (MD) and a psychologist (PhD), and see if medications or therapy would work best for you--this is a decision you have to make, so participate in it! Most of all, ignore most of the advise given in this forum, since you should seek the advise of a professional.
Ideally, each tip makes sense. The problem is that most students are not able to spend that much time preparing for that one exam. Most of my fellow students are also concerned with the research paper that is due the day before, and the presentation that they have to give later that afternoon, etc. Finals week, in my experience, is a blur of studying, writing, preparing, and meeting deadlines. If you haven't made a conscientious effort to study, keep up on homework, and do what you can to complete a significant portion of your final projects before finals week, you are doomed anyways. The reality of college is that you are going to be scrambling to finish everything that is assigned and get that last bit of studying in before your exams. This very often involves caffeine consumption and sleep loss. If it was just one exam, and you had nothing else to worry about, sure, you could plan a few days around it. A water fast would be lovely. Sleep the day away before the exam. I do believe that Tylenol PM would make the average student a little groggy in the morning, more than OJ could counteract. In fact, there is the additional risk of sleeping through the alarm clock.
Stress is the body's reaction to environmental pressure. It causes various physiological responses. In and of themselves, these are neutral. The mind interperates those responses, particularly if it is primed to react a certain way. If it interperates them negatively, you end up in distress. If, instead, you interperate the response as a motivating factor, ie. a positive force, that's called eustress. Most people never learn they have a measure of control over how they experience stress. Doing so can not only solve/prevent the sort of experience you had, but can provide you with a way to handle things even better than your usual competent fashion.
The guy who came up with the idea of stress -> eustress/distess is Hans Selye. Look him up on Wiki and such. He wrote a whole book about it, but like many such concepts it's doesn't take a book's worth of information to grasp it.
I know about this stuff because I'm a psychologist. I know it works because I have generalized anxiety disorder, and have frequent panic attacks. When I don't have anything to aim it at, I have to take anxiolytic meds. When I can aim it something, I can do lots of stuff really, really well, and quickly.
Learning how to do this requires (1) learning early detection of oncoming stress, and (2) practice interperating it as a motivator (ie. excietment, focus, flow, etc.). The former depends on you learning what your specific reactions are. The latter takes practice at imposing your will on your thinking; imagery and actively focusing your attention on that imagery are key.
Besides all that stuff, there's also a fact that few people ever learn: how you feel and how you're doing are not the same thing. Most people go through life gauging how they're doing by how they feel, and act accordingly. When you understand that you can feel like shit and still do well, then you can learn to do well despite how you may feel at the time. This is all just a matter of taking responsibility for how you feel and act. A lot of people don't care for that level of responsibility. They'd rather blame external factors. Hey, it's a choice.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I'm curious to know why this was marked as a troll. Offtopic maybe, but I wasn't joking. I'm pretty sure this girl studies at UNSW in Sydney.
Seems to be the general response in this forum. I am no great advocate of caffeine, however, I am less of an advocate of popping any sort of pill to "get through the hardships of life." We live in a pharmeceutical drug-culture in which any of our problems can be easily diagnosed and rectified by a proper, legal, pill. IMO this is total BS, and if you can't deal with what you are doing, and where you are, then maybe it is a sign that you aren't where you should be. Taking a pill to dull that realization won't help you in the long run.
Just to be a bit contrarian to most of the posts: If this was the fist time and you normally have no problems with exams, just ignore it. It might not happen again.
I have had this happen once, in a quite unimportant test. Panic and total blackout. I managed to literally write my name and like five words in a 3 hour test. Afterwards, I talked with several teachers and my parents (both teach as well). They all agreed: it happens, but normally only once. So I tried to relax, ignore the F on that test and just go on.
Well, it worked. For years afterwards (up to and including my PhD defence), I would worry a bit about it happening again, but it never did.
If the attack happens again, I would definitely start looking for professional help, but up to then, just relax. Worrying too much, doing lots of research and trying to remember all sort of tricks might just increase your anxiety.
I'm sorry for you; I've only ever had two panic attacks but I know that they are not very nice; the first time I was lucky enough to be in hospital so the hyper-ventialating didn't cause me to pass out, the second time I was on my own and blacked out (guess I was lucky to not have any serious injury).
I've recently finished my second year of my degree but I had a little worry issues when I was doing my exams... If I tell you how I went about doing it you can just do the opposite... I started revising on the day of the exam (which makes you even more nervous then the exam starts at 9.30am) - this is a bad idea. Ideally you would know everything you feel you need to know the night before and then in the morning (after a good nights sleep) you would wake up and read over your condensed notes once and get on your way with enough time to not have to worry about being late.
I hadn't been eating 3 meals a day for a few weeks... this was causing me very bad stomach aches and feelings of sickness, which makes everything worse... 3 meals a day is very important - you might feel like dinner (by that I mean the midday meal) isn't important but if you keep missing it you'll really feel it.
Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, when you get in make a plan of the questions you are going to answer or jot down main points you think you might forgett (I don't know how your exam is structured, mine is 4 questions in 3 hours so I can do this easily... if you have a lot it might not be feasable.
Anyway, just some advice... someone should learn from my example because god knows I won't...
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
Quick disclaimer: I've never had a panic attack while awake. I've suffered several night terrors in my adolesance, which I consider to be like panic attacks while you're sleeping (this could be a flawed analogy, but hey--I'm not a professional. And it damn sure feels like how I make it sound.).
Lenghty disclaimer: I'm not a good student. I haven't been for several years. My grades faltered in high school but were perfectly decent in hindsight. In college my grades polarized; some classes were easy A's while others were dead failures. I don't like doing work that I don't want to do; if a subject interests me, I'll devour it. If it doesn't, I lack the discipline to study. I'm aware that I have a problem, but I haven't gotten over it yet.
Additional warning: This post is a lenghty reiteration of the "stop caring" post.
That being said, I've been accused of being an intelligent person. I excelled in my studies up until the point where I couldn't just ace everything without trying. In some ways, my gifts might have caused me to become lazy and complacent, something I regret. The classmates I knew who got the best grades were also noticeably less intelligent than a lot of people I knew who were getting less done.
Now, it seems to me that you are a good student. I like that. However, from my own limited perspective, this little tidbit may lend some insight into the reason why you've had a panic attack. You have discipline, you are a good worker, and naturally you are under a lot of stress.
Your work ethic demands that you get things done. If you are overwhelmed or feel like you can't do something, the panic attack is the ultimate consequence that you've been fighting to avoid by doing your studies. The fact that you have never had one before suggests to me that you've done a great job of keeping yourself in the groove. You can't stay in it all the time--it happens.
What most people on Slashdot are suggesting is that you take some measures to get yourself back into the groove. I guess healthy people do this, but is that really going to get to the heart of the problem? It sounds like you need an attitude change.
Never in my life have I had trouble taking exams. I just take them. Lots of people preoccupy themselves with things that fall outside the scope of the exam itself. They can't get out of their head how good they'll do on the exam. Some people count questions they don't know and try to figure out their grade before they even turn the damn thing in. Some people think about what will happen if they fail, or how great they'll feel when they're done, or mommy and daddy--hell, I have no idea. Whatever it is you're thinking about, STOP. The piece of paper in front of you is now your world. First you read it, then you write (or mark something). That's some basic I/O there. If you continue to feel anxiety while engaging in this behavior, you're not doing it correctly.
Yeah, we all want to be like linux--it's true. Don't get me wrong--linux is great, but now you've got to be DOS. You are DOS, and the exam is your dot ee ex ee. Comprende? Sorry, I'm tired.
Also, while you're at it, pick up the Bhagavad Gita. Read it; live by it.
Remember that worrying reduces your performance. So does worrying about worrying. And worrying about not worrying. Don't worry; just forget about it. Either you can do the exam, or you can't. If you can't, at least find ways to amuse yourself. I've written in a lot of jokes into exams I've done poorly on. You may have just failed, but at least you'll brighten your day and the day of whoever grades it. Do the world a favor!
Don't second guess yourself. Just do it. Think of Master Yoda in a Nike commercial.
Also, don't overburden yourself. You might be doing that too.
Peace.
I don't think it is fair to assume that he is a bad programmer because he tries to get good grades and got very nervous during a test.
I didn't suggest he was. I said that the people who don't need to try end up being the best programmers. Those who are always working their hardest end up as go-getter managers who don't need to code.
How we know is more important than what we know.
surprised that this happens in the west too. so far i used to think exam day cying and anxiety were all an indian phenomena and that there was very little pressure on the students in the west. over here suicides coz of low marks are everyday sights.
You can only take the Chinese university entrance examinations. If you fail them. That's it (knowledge obtained from other Slashdot articles).
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Well you can always adopt the attitude of "well, i'll die someday and this test won't matter in the long run, the world will forget about me, and then the world itself will end someday... in the grand scheme of things i am not that important, let alone this stupid test..."
Ok maybe that's not good advice...
But seriously... I was a Physics major... couldn't handle it and dropped out. I was working full time and slowly downgraded my plans for my future. I was resigning myself to be content with mediocre jobs and low pay, and decided that friends were what would really make me happy.
But then I snapped out of it and realized I was settling for less. I went back, switched to Computer Science and it's all been good. I even had some REALLY bad semesters, but the thing is that I know now that (at least academically, if not in other areas of life such as love...) no matter how bad you screw things up, you can always recover from it, if you're willing to put in some extra work and get determined.
So when you're doing an exam... just remember that if you do bad, it probably isn't determining your entire grade for the class (if you're doing college in the USA), and even if you do bad in the class you can probably retake it... or take a minor hit in your GPA and make up for the loss with another class you do well in.
I know failure can seem daunting and horrible. But some people like me who have done it enough times (failed at things in life) know that it's not the end of the world, and you might end up learning something from it, or get to know yourself better... so it's not a total loss. It's life experience.
It's hard to explain this to people who only get A's their entire life and SERIOUSLY think they're life will end if they get a B. In the end, you're better off being kind to yourself.
A few years ago I got into my first computer science exam, panicked and couldn't even write my own name, let alone answer all the easy questions. Never having had a panic attack before, I didn't know what was going on. But I knew that if I left the room, I'd fail. So basically I decided to sit, face straight ahead and do NOTHING but look into space and sip from my water bottle. About 1/2 an hour later, I was calm enough to at least try to look at the questions and maybe give them a go - nothing to lose. I could've easily answered them in other circumstances, but my head was so cloudy that it was real slow going. Thinking through the most simple sentences was a major struggle. Had to read the most simple questions over and over. I kept sipping though. I got through much of the exam paper and passed.
Basically, assuming you can't head the attack off at the pass, once it's in full swing, just tell yourself '5 more minutes (or questions), and then I'll leave'. Once the five minutes is up, reassess and see if you can hack another 5, and so on.
(It can also help if you make sure you sit in a seat with decent airflow around it. The fresh air helps to get enough oxygen where it's needed, which makes you feel a lot better)
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
A beta blocker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_blocker) should help. Take one a couple hours before the exam. I should warn you to try one out on a day when you are not doing anything, first, to make sure you can tolerate the dose you get. Also, while people on chronic beta blockers can drive and operate heavy machinery, you probably shouldn't be driving around for a few hours after taking one if you only take them sporadically.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I've dealt with panic attacks in different situations, the most typical being singing on stage in front of hundreds of people. In my situation, I found that the attack begins with a wave of fear shortly after I begin doing the thing I fear. Then, I focus on the fear which leads me to worry that it will get worse, which of course it does, and it feeds on itself until it gets totally out of control.
I learned that beforehand, I need to do some anxiety management, like focusing on breathing, conscious relaxation of muscle groups, etc. A therapist can help you with these excercises. They don't eliminate the anxiety, but they do bring the level down "a notch". Don't believe that you can eliminate the anxiety, at least overnight, but focus on "management" as the key.
Then, when I get on stage, I remind myself that I will probably feel a wave of fear and that when I do, (1) it's perfectly normal, (2) it's just a feeling that will pass. That way, I'm not caught off guard when/if it does come.
If it happens, I focus on my breathing (some researchers believe that it's lack of oxygen that sets the whole thing in motion in the first place), and I try to "lose myself" in the music. That gives my mind something else to focus on besides my panicky feelings.
Since I started doing this I've not had any panic attacks. But I realize that I probably will at some point in the future, and that when I do, I'll just manage it as best I can, and remember that even if I fall off the stage due to panic, it's not the end of the world.
I wish you luck in dealing with your panic attacks. Just remember, there are lots of people who deal with them--don't think there's anything wrong with you.
I'm assuming that you're a university student? If so, your school likely has a service for people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. Get registered with them, and they'll provide you with accomodations that will remove a lot of the stress of taking exams and help you in case you have another panic attack.
Seriously, the exact same thing happened to me during a PhD Topology midterm last November. I went in having studied hard to what was likely to be an easy exam. For some reason, I panicked, and an hour later all I'd done is begun each question about five times over without making any progress. I bombed the exam, which was something that had never happened to me before. Someone recommended I check out disability services. I was registered with them a few weeks later and granted a private room with extra time (in the case of another panic attack) to reduce my exam anxiety, and it worked brilliantly. At least at my school, the fact that you are registered with them is not broadcast, either: while some of your professors may discover that you are, you'd be surprised at how many people need special accomodations, and it'll certainly never appear on your transcripts.
If you think that it would benefit you, I can't recommend it enough.
As for general panic suggestions, the thing to remember about panic attacks is that they cannot physically harm you in any significant way, and that they cannot last more than about 30 mins. The buildup and the aftereffects may make them seem considerably longer, but your body can only physically maintain extremely elevated levels of anxiety for short amounts of time. If panic attacks become a problem for you in the future, these are very important things to keep in mind.
Best of luck!
If the first posibility is the case, then there's not much you can do about it except try to keep it from getting to you. If on the other hand the second posibility is what caused your panic attack, there are loads of thing you can do to prevent it from happening again. Most importantly, I think, is that you be relaxed before, during, and after each exam. It's important that we get a little stress now and again, but too much is damaging to our health. The not caring approach mentioned earlier is very good for right after the exam. I, however, prefer to spend time with frineds after an exam, and if the exam schedule permits, throwing back a couple of cold ones. This is especially true if I want to just forget those three hours of my life so that they can't bother me at my next exam. For you, do anything that you know relieves stress for you. Breathing deeply, working out, whatching tv, whatever works for you.
I see a lot of comments out there about no caring and to use some kind of substance to help you before a test. I think people tend to forget what school is lie after they are done. Unfortunately, school is important when you are there.
If this is the first time this has ever happened to you, calm down. Longer tests are far more stressful than a two hour test. I panicked on a formal methods test that took me about four hours. I knew the information. I had studied just as I always do. It was just after four hours I was tired and stressed. After that, I went back to my dorm and took a nap. I felt much better. Since this is the first time it has ever happened, do not worry about it. Unless you set up some kind of mental fixation, it probably will not ever happen again.
The best thing you can do is get plenty of sleep. Do not cram the morning of the test. Sleep in. You'll feel great when you go in to take the test.
Your University will almost certainly hve some kind of Heath/Counselling services on-campus. Go and talk to them.
Seriously. I have tried to convice a lot of students to do so--those that do at least end up taking some positive steps. Many have an "I'm not crazy" reaction to the idea which is unfortunate. You aren't crazy, but they can help in ways that others cannot.
These people spend their days dealing with students and related problems--they should have something useful to say. I generally advise students to go to them over outside counsellors because of their expertise and narrower focus.
Your CS department or University may have academic advisors who can be of some help too. Particularly if they are full-time advisors (as opposed to faculty members who advise as part of their duties).
I do stress much more for my exams, but the geek way does work too! My planning:
You will obviously be totally fucked up! There is no way to stress anymore, your body doesn't even really know where it is. See the questions, answer what you can (which is pretty fair, 'cause your body has no reason at all to think about anything else).
For one or the other reason, I think you might not get high grades anymore ;-) But the exam really feels like one big trip, so you won't be stressing...
You got stressed out. You let it get to you. Don't fall into this BS trap of "Oh, I have a disorder!" That's just an excuse people use to avoid taking responsibility for themselves.
I know it's all PC to be "feel good" and talk about chemical imbalances and other such BS; did you know that the only way to actually clinically diagnose a chemical disorder is to cut open the brain of a dead person? Any doctor who tells you different is a liar, as it's all based on what you say you feel like and their assumptions. There is no way to actually confirm the diagnoses it until you are dead, so anyone that tells you that is your problem and doesn't tell you it's an assumption is a bad doctor - run away. People actually think you can "test" for these sorts of things with urine or blood when the fact is all they can do is ask loaded questions like, "Do you ever feel stressed out at work?"
Pressure is a bitch. Just like not everyone is built physically to be a marathon runner, not everyone is able to handle the same amount of stress. That's why not everyone can be a CEO or a doctor or any other high-pressure profession.
"Panic attack", "meltdowns", and the like are usually really people who just try to take on too much and can't handle it. Learn your limitations, and don't let a doctor medicate you out of them. A test is SUPPOSED to increase your anxiety. That's the point. If you freaked out because you had to decide between a cheeseburger and a hot dog at a BBQ then you've got a problem that may require medication; otherwise, you just need to deal with it.
So chin up, stop whining, and move on with life. Unless you want to become one of those poor, medicated schlubs who walk around thinking that all their problems in life are because of "chemical imbalances" and without pills they can't handle it. Just like people who are drunks and say, "I can't help it! It's a DISEASE!" as an excuse for their problems, it's a dis-service to those who actually do have medical issues that threaten their lives.
Remember, it's all in your mind...and despite what some weak people may say, YOU CAN CONTROL IT, unless you are one of the tiny percentage of humans who really is mentally insane (serial killers and the like).
I don't get panic attacks, but here is the advice that I've heard and I think it makes quite a bit of sense.
Exercise. Get your heart REALLY GOING.
Now this is designed for people who get panic attacks more regularly, so I don't know how much it will help you, but I think it could. The idea here is that when you have a panic attack your heart starts racing and you start feeling like you're going to die from it because it can be a terrifying thing. So by exercising and really getting your heart going on a regular basis, you experience this more often. Now I'll warn you this will probably be uncomfortable or scary at first because you'll immediatly equate it with another panic attack. You'll have to push through that.
By doing this, you learn what it feels like when your heart is really racing and that it's not such a scary thing. This way the next time you have a panic attack (if you do) instead of telling yourself "I'll be OK" and feeling like you're going to die or have a heart attackc, you'll be telling yourself "I'll be OK, this isn't so bad, my heart is just racing." The more panic attacks you have after you try this and it works, the better they are supposed to be. Since you get through one, then another, then another you learn they are not so bad and it gets easier and easier to deal with them. You may end up not having them, or they may simply be very easy (relativly) to deal with so they no longer interfere with what you're doing.
I hope this works for you. I've heard the advice numerous times as well and people who have used it saying it works. Hopefully you'll never need it (isolated incedent), but here it is.
And of course, exercise is always good for you too.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Nothing helped take the edge off before a test better than a shot of whiskey and a smoke....
Get a girlfriend (or boyfriend depending on your preferance), drink some beers, wine or whatever you like and enjoy college, this is your LAST chance. The real world is a lot tougher and a lot less fun until you become a billionare or die :)
My school teachers had always been telling students that elementary school is easy compared to junior/high school and that we had better enjoy it while we can because it was about to get a lot tougher. So I started dreading high school. Then in high school they started saying the same thing about college, and that college was as close as the real world could get in school, and that we had better work hard to get into the right one and do the right thing because our life depends on it, otherwise we'll be working at gas stations. So I started dreading college. Then in college they stopped holding our hand or putting guns to our heads to come to school and do assignments, so since I dreaded college and its assignments so much, to stop being stressed out I simply didn't pay attention to it because I couldn't handle the dread and pressure. Then I dropped out of college. Saying shit like "It's your last chance, it'll get a lot tougher!" is not going to make someone do something better, it'll simply impede them like it did me. Now I'm having a hell of a time.
Twinstiq, game news
Okay, first off, the person who said "just stop caring" and all the people who modded him up are idiots.
Panic and Anxiety disoreders are not a joke. They are a poorly understood physiological problem that is (as you discovered) way unpleasant.
I'm guessing the special process includes a medical and/or psychiatric examination, but if not, hie thyself off to a doctor.
Don't associate it with the test --- it's not actually all that highly correlated with stress. I had a panic attack, my first one, in church during a boring sermon.
There's a good page on panic attacks at Web MD.
Anxiety is an interesting beast. To a point, anxiety actually increases performance; beyond a certain point, anxiety dramatically reduces performance. Personally, I've always had problems with anxiety during tests; the most effective means I've found to combat it is to recognize when I'm beginning to lose control of my anxiety level. When I see that begin to happen, I take steps to calm myself down; I repeat to myself that I'm well prepared for the material at hand, that I've studied an appropriate amount, and that should I fail in this endeavor it is not for lack of preparation.
Anxiety is actually a pretty interesting topic; I've read articles in the past where they studied the anxiety levels of NASCAR racers and fighter pilots, and found that the level of anxiety which reduces performance in those peoples is radically and unexplainably high; essentially, they are neurologically wired to cope with high-stress environments. Not everyone is; some people find ways to adjust to high-stress environments, and others don't. Invariably, the exact method that works for you will be a personal one.
Am in South-Africa and I wrote databases today, Oracle sql ect.. I didnt study! Will pass on a participation mark which is sky high.
This is my sig.
I've had panic/anxiety disorder for the last 8 years.
"Stop caring" is a stupid, flip answer. This entire thread is filled with bad responses. Panic disorder is a real problem, and has real, proven solutions.
I recently started taking beta blockers and experienced an almost complete disappearance of all panic symptoms. Beta blockers work by limiting the heart's ability to respond to adrenalin, preventing the big andrenalin "kick" that starts a panic attack. They have worked very well for me. And they don't impair my cognitive ability at all. Talk to your doctor first, of course.
Unfortunately, I am still stuck with all of the learned avoidance behaviors of the last 8 years, so while I don't have panic attacks any more my life is still negatively impacted. Cognitive therapy has been very helpful in this regard. My greatest regret is not dealing with this immediately. Panic/Anxiety is a problem that can grow if left untreated, which is sad because it is usually very treatable.
30-40 minutes before the exam. It wont make you drunk or effect you that much (if you know the material) but it will loosen you up a bit.
:)
This is particularly useful for presentations also. Dont forget a breath mint though
Many of the comments here seem helpful, but bear in mind that your situation may not be exactly the same as those of others in this forum; so what worked for others may not necessarily work for you. Besides, if you have been a consistently high-scoring student who has never faced such a problem before, there may be other things going on in your life that have nothing to do with the exam itself.
Some good advice so far on the thread, I'll throw my own in the mix..
Not that it makes me an authority on the matter, but I've had some really first class panic attacks. The first one sent me to the hospital (I walked there) thinking that I had a major blood sugar problem. My heart rate and blood pressure were both over 200, I felt like I was walking along a tightrope with insanity beneath and a strong wind blowing. When the nurse brought me in to sit me down my whole body was visibly palpitating like I'd just drank a thousand cups of coffee. The skinny on the situation, looking back at it all, was that I was in a boring job as a sysadmin that I knew was ending in six months so, being a young male, I decided I'd party for the remainder of tenure. Each night was a tour of the bars and each morning the hangover was treated with a few bong hits followed by a cup of coffee on an empty stomache. Off I went to work with the headphones cranking, thinking I was the coolest kid in town. It really should be no surprise that one day my physiology finally went bankrupt the way it did.
You might be thinking, "what a loser, I've nothing to learn from this guy." but the truth is that regardless of how your first PA was triggered, the anxiety cycle is similar for everyone. It's great that you know what you're dealing with after your first attack. I spent weeks in an unbearable state of despair thinking that I'd done "permanent brain damage." I went to a psychiatrist for numerous sessions, read books on the matter, participated in online communities, and now, a couple years later, I feel like I'm finally comfortable back in my own skin.
My advice:
- The fear of another PA is often what kicks people into a vicious anxiety loop right after their first PA. The moment your heart rate ticks up in a stressful situation you think "oh no, here it is again" and sure enough your fear of the fear sets off a PA. Breaking that cycle is not easy and there has been some good advice so far. Learning to meditate is important as is making sure you're eating well (get rid of caffeine and sugary foods), getting enough protein, etc. Exercise goes a long way to stabilizing emotions and will make you feel comfortable with your body operating in a high gear. Once you learn to flow *with* the current of anxiety and accept that it is not dangerous to you then you will treat its arrival with more of a "blah, I have to hang out with this stupid thing for 5 minutes, then it will go" rather than seizing on it and thinking "anything but this!!!"
- I was totally against pills for a long time thinking that I'd be popping them for the rest of my life or that it was a way of cheating that wouldn't address the real underlying issue. But the fact of the matter is that they're a useful tool which, used judiciously with other techniques, can help you get back on your feet. Xanax helped me deal with flying again (the thought of having a PA on a plane would keep me awake at night) and I use a tiny dose of Propranolol, a heart medication that blocks the effects of adrenaline, when I have to present or, as was the case recently, when I was interviewed by the news. Note that I *rarely* take the xanax and will probably graduate from the propranolol at some point but just knowing I have my little pharmacy in my wallet makes me feel better.
- Keep a journal. Jot down how you felt that day, what you did, how you're feeling about tomorrow. Note your diet, sleeping pattern, etc.
- I'm guessing if you're in school you're still quite young but take the time to reflect on your life and what sort of framework you've established for yourself on the inside. Do you feel you have to be the best at everything? Are you constantly gnawing away at where life will take you next? Sometimes anxiety and panic are the result of internal or external pressures that are not being handled correctly.
- Finally, take it easy.. take time for yourself. You've been bruised and pampering yourself a little is in order.
Good luck, you'll get through.
Mabye you should admit that you're not capable of thriving in a modern world and admit that you might just be stupid? I read through pretty much every thread posted and not one person has suggested that the guy might be a washout, deserving failure in life, and a cheap chinese bullet to the back of the head, or mabye just to be castrated and sent to work in a nike sweatshop in exchange for someone more deserving of the priviledge of an education?
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
I've suffered from extreme phobia attacks during a large portion of my teen ages. They are extremely nasty - I know what you are talking about. To all the ones not knowing: they are basically a horror trip without bad drugs. Not that I've ever taken drugs, but I can hardly imagine anything worse than these phobia attacks. I eventually managed to overcome them and now am basically phobia-free. Every once in a while - maybe once in a decade - they return and show a slight effect but since I know how to deal with them they go away quick.
Here's the deal:
1.) You say you are safe in the saddle in the field your studying in and are usually a high profile student. This indicates unconcious psychological stress that has been building unattended at the border to your subconcious and now, in a situation that maybe has changed only slightly for you, surface and rear their ugly head. Double check your biography. Maybe something happend recently, maybe you even just read an article or saw a news report that triggered existencial fear in you and now all of a sudden the sum of all fears (no pun intended) outweighs the self-confidence you've gotten so comfortable with. It sometimes is just that easy. For instance me: Conracts are running dry, no new on the horizon for the last 6 weeks, a good client/friend went broke and allthough it was all only a matter of time and I'm actually doing better than the most people around me I suddenly get the creepies. Check what's going on around you and on your inside and find that dark spot. That will be the first step.
2.) We fear the unknow. It's allways that way. Learn to know the unknow which you fear. If your closing in on your degree and suddenly exams become a serious thing and you lose your cool and break: Practice doing exams! Maybe it really is the time for you to take a deeper insight into the mechanisims of academics and the tough thing they can be. There are countless ords who feel what you feel since the fifth grade. For you it's new. Use you skills and brains to take on the challenge. Some people deal with it by not doing exams and taking a job at McDonalds instead. Maybe you love what you do so much that you fear to lose it if you fail. Here's a secret for you: Academia, no matter how comfortable you felt with it up to now, doesn't care a flying f*ck about wether people love what they do or not. Take this from a guy who's programmed for the largest part of his life and gets weird looks when he applies for admittance at a university only because he doesn't have the german standard A-Levels. No matter how exorbitantly you fail, you'll *allways* be able to do what you love. 10 years from now no one will care how good or bad you passed your exams. Get through with them and do something productive if they're bugging you to much.
3.) There is a science that deals with elementary fears of the unknown. It's called Philosophy. I recommend reading anything from Alan Watts. It was he that ended my phobias instantly. Carnegies "How to stop worrying and start living" is more of the simple kind but very good aswell. It's not one of the best selling books of the entire history of mankind without a reason. If you consider jumping the postive thinking revival hype thats flooding the upper class and academic US right now (so I've heard and read in a current article) I strongly suggest Marie 'Shakti' Gawains all-time classic "Creative Visualisation". It's dirt-cheap, a little more than 100 pages thick and contains everything you'll ever need to know about positive thinking. It's Shakti Gawain and Alan Watts that brought me through some psychologically very tough times.
4.) Exercise, Performing Arts and Zen Buddisim or any mixture of those can help a great deal. They get you in touch with the spiritual world - ofter better and faster than the other solution: religion - and get your brain chemistry back in line. Join a chorus, do some Aikido (doing that myself, great thing that), join a local street-climbing/'urban-ninja'/parcour crew (that's currently the hippest I'd say) o
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
If you can't handle the pressure of a single exam, don't go any further with your course studies. If you have a problem with a single exam, just wait until you're a professional.
Getting laid helps a lot.
Or if you prefer something less physical, talk to your parents, friends, or siblings. Support from those close to yourself helps relieve stress and calm your nerves.
The purpose of an exam is to evaluate your abilities. Not just your abilities on one special day that you've prepared for, but your abilities overall, in general, on any given day. If you want to get a good picture of what your true skill set is, there is one thing that you absolutely need to not do: exam cram.
I find that with not cramming comes a great deal less stress and anxiety. I view the exam as just another test, and I know that whatever I score on that test will be an indicator of my skill level on any given random tuesday. When I'm out in the real world, I'm not going to cram before a meeting, I'm either going to be on the ball or I'm not, and if I'm not then perhaps I should consider a new line of work. So if I'm not going to do anything special to prepare in the real world, why do anything special to prepare for the exam? This doesn't mean that you shouldn't study, but rather that you shouldn't study any more than you intend to study regularly for the rest of your mortal life.
You can look at it this way though: if you put all your hopes and dreams into that one exam and you panic like a child when things don't go your way, how are you going to handle a rough business meeting? Maybe you'd be better-off as an artist...
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
Just tell your doc you have panic attacks, and he will gladly give you something to calm you down.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I've read many of the threads already posted and this is not an uncommon occurrence. Lets just start with the fact that you are not crazy. Panic attacks are not that uncommon. There are many routes to take to solving this problem. My attacks were bad in college followed by a severe attack at my first job. I hate to tell you this, but you've got a battle with your mind on the horizon. After that first panic attack life is going to be hell for a while. Every situation triggers another attack. The fear of another attack brings on another attack. It's a viscious cycle. I am somewhat surprised by your early recognition, but so much the better for you. I spent years thinking I was brain damaged, retarded, insane, etc. Let me assure you that it is unlikely that you are any of these things. Let me also assure that these attacks will pass. For most people avoiding caffeine!, alcohol, and sugar in that order is enough to cure this problem. For me, the major culprit was caffeine. I did not completely give up caffeine, but I control it. I recognized its affects on me and limit myself to one cup of tea a day. The affects of the caffeine in tea are slower than they are with coffee. Recognize that you are different from your friends, not necessarily in a bad way, but you will be affected by substances differently than they will. Such is life.
If you'd like a shoulder to lean on send me an email at logicalmind@<the name of googles email service> and I will get in touch with you.
mp3's are only for those with bad memories
We all panic. Most of us are overwhelmed by it from time to time. Some people experience it daily and and are barely able to function in life because of it. Others are able to control it -- at least is most situations -- to the extent that it doesn't overtly affect their performance.
I suggest that first of all you accept that it will happen. Of course try to recognise the situations leading up to it and try to develop coping mechanisms. The coping mechanisms will have to be things you've worked out in advance because when you're in a state of panic you're not in any position to do so.
I think it is valuable to use your experience (and others') to develop understanding -- for others and for yourself. There's litte point in saying "I [they] should [should have] done this [that] instead" -- you [they] are [were] simply unable. Some people really are just as panicked as this every day of their lives, and equally unable to cope. This does not mean they are lazy or hopeless or even crazy. You're privileged -- you've made it to college and you're studying something you love. I assume that you're female, so you've done this in spite of a social environment that is not 100% inviting. Obviously you have all the necessary raw materials to be able to cope in stressful situations -- reflect on some such situations and try to figure out what you did.
What do I do? That's hard to articulate. I'm a big believer in exercise -- walking, running, swimming. Do it regularly and before you notice you are in a potentially panic-inducing situation. Even if you feel you don't have time because you have an assignment, cramming, etc. At least that's what I do. If I have a stressful event on the horizon and only get to bed at 2 a.m. I'm better off getting up at 6 instead of 7 and having a run. An extra hour's (fitful) sleep isn't going to do me the good that the exercise will. And maybe it'll translate into a much better hour's sleep the next night.
Others here have advocated drugs. Drugs can help in certain situations and for certain problems, but I would not advocate them as a first line of defense. Booze, valium, etc are just depressants. They are unlikely to be strong enough to overcome your angst, but they will certainly affect your performance. SSRIs -- Prozac, Effexor, etc -- can work remarkably well for anxiety. But they are not "pop one when you feel jittery" treatments. And they can have very bad effects. If you are bipolar, they may well exacerbate the problem a lot.
Enuring yourself to particular situations can help. Stage fright is a good example. Put yourself in speaking situations as opposed to avoiding them. Eventually things get better. I guess you can't replicate exam situations exactly but maybe try a programming contest or something that you wouldn't otherwise enjoy -- if you experience some of the same feelings, this might give you a sandbox in which to experiment with various strategies.
Sorry if this rambles. I think the theme is that you have to discover what works for you. By all means solicit and consider opinioons such as the ones that you receive here. Since your panic occurs in relatively rare situations it is tough to know exactly what is going to work. I am pretty sure that somebody else's solution applied on an ad hoc basis will not work.
However, if you had a heart pounding, sweating, feeling like you might die type of panic attack, I'd strongly suggest you talk to a doctor or psychiatrist about it. It's a serious disorder, and a treatable one, as long as you recognize and do something about it. It can be pretty debilitating if you don't, and it can have an onset in early adulthood.
Either way, good luck. Don't let it get in the way of enjoying what you're learning.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
I've suffered panic attacks for years. The best remedy for instant results, is to shake up your reality tunnel: Go to the washroom, splash water on your face, do some mild stretches (even whilst sitting still in your chair), breathe slowly and deeply and calmly until your chest is relaxed, scrunch up your face muscles until you feel silly. Anything to break the tension of the "flight or fight" mechanism.
;)
Good luck
Really, it couldn't hurt for you to get professional help. But in the meantime you may want to learn some things that change your mindset a bit...
I am a distinction / high distinction student
The fact that your question starts with that tells me that you really focus on that... Perhaps to the point of obscession. Once you get that diploma, no employer that you'll ever want to work for is likely to ask you about your GPA or any of that crap. Some other people here are, both jokingly or not, telling you to give up on caring... You don't have to do that, but you can realize that there's nothing to worry about. Exams aren't going to ruin your life, even if you fail them.
More than anything though, you should talk to a professional. Most people here, myself included, are talking out their asses. There could be some serious medical consequences that you're not going to find out about here.
3) ... While some people prefer steak and eggs, I like steak and steak. Or oatmeal.
... ...
You forgot the most important side dish to "steak-and-steak"
STEAK!
A course in Art of Living, there's probably one near you (link in my .sig). It is tools to give you more energy, courage and dispassion, to survive the next exam.
A secret lies in the breath. We're not really aware of our breath during the day, usually not. So, with breathing exercises we can unleash alot of what is holding us back, and release stress, toxins and fear from the body.
An advice on here was to not care. But I think this is not entirely accurate, because I think you naturally care. A more precise word is the ancient word of dispassion. Not being attached to the result, but just doing what you can and see what happens. It is a good attitude. Dispassion is actually caring, but not getting tangled up with lots of expectations and attachments. This makes you free from having to think about working, always feeling guilty you haven't worked enough, etc. Such thinking can tire and psyche you out alot more than the actual work itself!
You can also start attaching positive thoughts to it. Often we harp in our minds again and again about how we suck at certain stuff, that we're not "able" to handle it like the others, comparing and alienating ourselves, etc, etc. Instead, you can find the positive stuff about the subject and yourself. Ie, you have handled many exams fine before, no matter what you will still survive, people shouldn't love you for your results or for any reason, you're good at this stuff because you DO care, etc, etc..
Whenever you feel anxious again, take your focus to your breath. You have more than enough time during an exam to do this too. When the thoughts wander off the breath, just take it back. With practice this is simple and can make you go through any feelings without panic, so that they get released.
A full Art of Living course will give many tools to overcome obstacles and finally surpass even your wildest expectations.
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
This works for me.
When your mind just goes blank, think of some really lame pop song and after a verse of that your brain snaps back into focus.
The downside could be that you have an annoying song playing in your head for a few hours! But hey if you pass the exam it is worth it (just about!).
"If you've done you're best, that all that matters."
The problem may be that the poster grew up in an environment were praise and affection were based on achievements. Thus, driving the poster's desire to constantly succeed. I don't know. However, the poster needs to adopt the attitude that "doing her best is what's really important, and anybody who expects more is an ass."
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
I've never had a panic attack, so I can't speak completely from experience, but I am firmly in the camp that stressing out too much about a test hurts your chances. Some level of fear is good, it makes you prepare, but as you've seen, too much can be very detrimental.
The obvious first course of action is to know the material well, never miss class unless you absolutely have to, and do all your assignments. This helps you have a good base of knowledge, so there won't be as much you need to learn right before the test. I like to try to get a good night's sleep before a final.
Unless it's an early test, I will study more the day of the test, but I always stop an hour or two before, and do something completely different, like play video games or cook myself a meal, that gets my mind off the subject for a while, and requires enough attention to actually change what I'm thinking about. The meal helps doubly, since you need the energy to keep you going for a three hour (or longer) exam, unless you're someone who gets sick to the stomach with stress.
The first thing I always do with a test is page through it, see how long it is and what looks easy and what looks hard. Do the easy things, and the quick points, first, then go back and work through things that are more difficult. Don't add up your points as you go - that'll only make you more nervous. Every half an hour or hour, I'll just stop for a few seconds and stare at the ceiling to keep myself from getting overworked and keep myself thinking clearly.
And remember, if you think the test is hard, chances are everyone else does too, and a 50 ain't bad if the average is 42.
Most doctors will be willing to perscribe lower powered anti-anxiety drugs that don't require you to take them all the time like ativan or lorazapan. This can help you if you have an episode (or if you can't sleep) and it can give you a sense of control of the situation. You can be comforted to know you have a pill that can help you at your disposal rather than feeling helpless to stop the situation. They are also very cheap in most places. Good for breakups too haha, but beware of the multiplyer effect with alcohol.
1. Eat a banana before the exam. This sounds stupid, but a banana is just enough - and just the right kind - of food to keep you alert in the exam without destroying your nerves with caffeine or sugar. Also, having a pretest ritual of eating a banana puts you in the proper mindset to take the test. I didn't even like bananas until I learned that distance runners often eat a banana before going for long morning runs, and I figured if it can help you run ten miles it might also keep me going for a two-hour linear algebra exam.
2. Have fun with the test. Does you music theory professor think putting the Beatles on his final will update his image? Does your mechanics professor give stupid premises for what amounts to solving some simple algebra? And if the test is incredibly hard, think of all the kids who never come to class and how bad they're sweating now. Is that stoned looking kid walking in 30 minutes late and the professor is refusing to give him a test? Comedy gold, even if it is a little cruel. If you're that kid who never came to class, marvel at how you can answer some of the questions even though you've never wasted the hours that all the other study-drones have. These kind of things have always put me at ease and in a better mood, so even if I don't know all the answers I don't waste time agonizing over it.
i am quite shocked how many people recommended drinking - or even worse, self-medication - as a relaxing strategy. while it is probably tempting (very simple), that's a very dangerous route to take and will likely make your current problems worse. the other common recommendation seemed to be "stop caring". again, probably not the healthiest thing to do. what about "learn accepting the way things are and work from there".
while you may eventually need some professional help, my recommendation is some reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401307787. see if this strategy helps you become a calmer person. there's certainly no one-size-fits-all solution and you may have to find a psychiatrist to help you. most universities here (canada) offer psyciatric service or other forms of counseling to their students.
In contrast to many of the posts I've read, for me, cutting out caffeine seems to be a trigger. .....planes.... :).
I drink around 4 -6 cups a day and I've found that, whenever I try and quit, the panic attacks hit me. Could be withdrawal though.
Lack of sleep is also a trigger for me. Too much alcohol
I've always found things like taking deep breaths never work for me. I need to stand up, walk/get out of the place where the attack started and find myself an ice cold drink.
Water..or preferably beer
You got to remember that dealing with these kind of situations in a day or two is not possible. You have to put a prolonged effort so that the next time an emotional disturbance strikes in whatever form you are ready to recognize it,face it and deal with it.
Discipline yourself with your study, work and choose the well treaded and solid path. Understand and know the things for certain. Dont put half measures anywhere. These are the cause of trouble. You have a half measure here, another one there and you endup in trouble somewhere. Point to note: Do a solid work(preparation) all the time.
Senthil
I've been studying and doing exams on and off, for the past eight years,
studying for an Associates Degree and then a B.Sc (Hons) in I.T - this is my final year.
I'm good at my job (Unix Sysadmin) and enjoy my work, and I'm not
usually stressed out during the work day.
Over the past eight years, I have trembled every year at
exam time. I absolutely hate them.
But, I developed a system to revise and prepare for the exam,
so that I would be ready when the time came. Note: My course is modular.
My system is simple, estimate the amount of work required for a course
and aim to finish the material one month before exam time. For a full-time student, create enough time for one month's revision, if possible.
Then, revise by skimming the notes taken for each section for approximately one week to quickly complete the module.
Download/purchase/acquire past exam papers and study what questions
appear over a set number of years, say 2000 - 20005. You will almost
always notice a pattern. Then, do all of the questions listed on the
exam papers (4 exam papers miminum, 5 preferred).
Pick out the questions that appear most often throughout the years and
do these again.
Then, on the day before exam day, quickly skim through the *entire* course notes/material and aim to finish around 5 or 6PM. Then, do
something relaxing that takes your mind off the exam. Go to the gym, watch TV, go see a move, or play a game. Do *not* get drunk or go on a bender. Go to bed early and try to get a good night's sleep, without any chemicals.
Get up the morning of the exam and skim through all the material again.
This is as prepared as I could be. Maybe it'll work for you.
Good luck on the next attempt.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines
Panic attacks can be treated with medication. There is no shame in it. Also, you could be showing signs of fatigue. College can wear people out. Maybe your body is getting exhausted, which is triggering the panic attacks and not the test. The test is just the final straw, as your body strains to recall everything.
Either way, go see a doctor. The panic attacks could be a sign of a vitamin deficiency, not enough sleep, or any number of other ailments.
I have anxiety just stepping into a class room, so tests are hell. One way that I've managed to controll it is to suck on fruity cough drops (the pectin type), and play with silly putty during the test. It works like a stress ball, and the cough drops are just another thing to play with. If the teachers allow it (ask on the first day) I listen to my iPod. I listen to the same genres as when I do homework. Tecno for coding, rock for math, jazz for English. It helps me get into the right frame of mind, and music has always been a calming thing for me.
If you can't handle an exam in (*snicker*) school, you'll never be able to handle real life.
A lot of the responses so far have been along the lines of "relax, it's just a test," and others have been "see your doctor, there's a chemical explanation." Depending on the circumstances, it could be either of these, but it sounds like the latter makes sense for you. Considering that this test appears to be nothing special and it's in a class you don't have a problem with, something other than typical test-jitters seems to be at play here. Medication really helped my ex-girlfriend with this sort of thing. Maybe there's one that's appropriate for you, or maybe counseling will help. Anyway, seeing a doctor and a therapist sounds like a good plan.