Hey anagum

I've been studying the whole time I've been in therapy and it is very hard to do both concurrently.

Personally I've found my studies have grounded me and stopped me having breakdowns on more than one occasion. So they serve as a container for really overwhelming feelings.

If you're going to tell your professors about your therapy, I'd go light on the details. Not everyone understands how destructive mental health problems are.

Hello, anagum

This happens to me too to the point where I can't even watch the tv let alone complete reading and assignments for my college course.

Some of the things that have helped me are to study in short slots, like no more than 20 mins a time...then taking a big break and then maybe return to it or not dependent on how I am feeling. I also use specialist software at college. Our library has a suite where students who have all kinds of different challenges can go and get access to things like a book scanner attached to the computer, so that the scanner will convert the material into a package that the computer will then read back the material to you - dont know if your college has such things?

Also my T knows I am studying, so she will ask when papers etc are due, do I want to slow down the work (not talk about heavy stuff more chit chat kind of sessions for a while) it kind of then means I have space to breathe and not get all consumed with therapy work because I process a lot of therapy stuff outside sessions too

Visually I get affected when my concentration goes, so sometimes I also use these coloured overlays on books which stops the text from jumping all over the place, and might do a 10 minute read at a time. I use an alarm clock or kitchen timer to make sure its only 10 or 20 mins. Sometimes I have to copy material and cut it up into pieces like a sentence or two and just read the bits of paper that have the sentence on it, rather than the whole sheet of paper> Then I kind of incrementally build up with the cut up bits of paper till I have the whole page read and taken in. It can be time consuming like it might take me a week to have read the page but thats for when things are really bad on my concentration front

Anyway these are just some of the things that have helped me with concentration, I hope you find something that can help you because it is very hard work being in therapy and trying to balance study at the same time too...so really do get how hard it can be when the concentration goes

Second what GE says about going light on the details if you do talk to your profs about this, not everyone understands.

Take care

Pingles

Hi,
I have exactly the same problem. I am studying at the moment and my course has finished but I have a few outstanding assignments.

I cannot concentrate at the moment because of my therapy situation. T is pregnant and although I am going to continue with her there will be a lot of changes over the next few months including a change of place.

I just find I am thinking about therapy all the time. When I am not thinking about my therapy itself I am thinking about her and the pregnancy and her homelife. It is a situation where she cannot avoid bringing her personal life into the therapy and is particularly difficult because I had a traumatic pregnancy experience myself, which is partly causing my problem in the first place.

I should be writing now, but hee I am again thinking about therapy!

I often find it helps to go for a walk, it clears my mind a little and then hopefully I can come back and concentrate again.Until the next time my thoughts wander back to T!

Lots of sympathy and I know it is very difficult for others to understand. My husband of course knows I go to therapy each week, but has absolutly no idea how much I think about it in between!

Anagum!

I wish you all the best with your studies in Political Science!

About letting profs know....maybe you could get your T's opinion on how to handle things with your professors. Talking to your profs about your struggle to concentrate could work also. I agree w/GreenEyes on going light on the details.

I'm having a hard time concentrating on my studies too. Everything I read is about therapy and counseling skills seeing as that's what I'm going to school for. Many of my assignments are about reflecting on such and such of reading or writing papers about experiences, feelings, and goals. I'm in therapy with a new T and I miss my former T, so a lot of what I'm reading will bring back memories of old T and sessions that we had. I start to reminisce and sometimes cry.
Other times I have happiness or anger feelings related to whatever I had just remembered. That sends me on a string of thoughts and feelings and my mind feels jumpy. Before I know it 30 minutes has passed and I didn't read or write anything! It's so hard to stay focused and bring myself back from wandering thoughts!
I also have a ton of other life stuff going on at work, with my kids, recent loss of friends and relatives, and ex-husband's bothersome control tactics.

I didn't mean to take over your post. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone in having the concentration problems.
I wish you all the best! Please share with us if you find techniques or things that help you with concentrating.

Speaking of concentrating....I need to make myself get off the computer and focus on getting ready for work today.

Thank you, guys, for all your replies. I'm going to go ahead and use some of your suggestions, Pingles. I find that studying for shorts periods helps me too. What I use when I just can't pay attention to the text in front of me is to put a piece of paper and underline the sentence I'm reading, and go down from there. That kind of forces me to look at the text.

Starlight, I know! Sometimes, I think I'm going crazy or I'm just way too obsessed, but I can see now that it's more noraml than I thought. I hope everything goes well with you and your T. I love your quote.

Athenacus, if things get too intense, then I think I will ask him. Last year, I did email some of my professors to tell them that I was having problems and they were completely open and understanding. But this year I have completely different ones, I'll have to see how I can handle it. I think the secret lies on working with my mood lapses. Whenever I'm feeling good and in control, I'll take that opportunity to read and work on things, and for short periods of time. Are you studying to become a therapist? Don't worry about it! I understand. I live with my parents, and a lot of the work I'm doing involves my parents, so you can imagine how awful the anguish and anxiety I feel, even more so when I have to live with them and I can't let too much of my feelings show.

Oh! And I found two other things help me a lot too: reading your text out loud to yourself and walking around while you're reading. Granted, you'll look silly, but it really keeps me concentrated. Hope that helps anyone!