I have been dealing with moderate depression and anxiety for several years before I ever started preparing for the LSAT. My symptoms began during my senior year of high school, and over the years they have improved with long-term medication. I am generally able to manage my daily life now, but I still experience periods when stress becomes overwhelming. During occasional preparing days, I experience intense anxiety symptoms, such as a very fast and persistent heartbeat and trouble concentrating. I also have long-standing sleep problems, which may contribute to some of these symptoms. Outside of studying, I try to maintain my mental health through activities that help me recover emotionally, such as attending concerts, watching films, and going to live shows. I’m curious whether anyone here has gone through something similar. How do you handle daily anxiety and depression? I would really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any strategies. Thank you.
3
4 comments
Felt this. On meds for my anxiety and the thing that helped was making lsat studying feel fun. Either motivating myself with treats or a fun thing for doing sections/drills or by playing the lsat games on here. Basically anything that makes studying feel less daunting is key. Now this is gonna be the hard thing to wrap your head around: at the end of the day the score you get is gonna be the score you get. Make it less about needing a specific score and more about seeing how much you can improve. Focus on rewarding yourself for the progress you're making rather than this idea that you have to get a specific score or else. That "or else" mentality is going to make studying that much harder because this test really does require you to be confident in your abilities. It's hard to do (I struggle with it myself) but you have other parts of your application that are just as important so don't stress too much about this one part.
Same boat. Getting on meds helped me a ton. I also exercise at least 3x per week, and try to spend time with friends as much as possible. Worrying about just the next thing I have to do has helped tamp down on anxiety as well. Focusing on moving my body to do the next task, and not about the whole system of tasks, has helped with my consistency and volume of work in most cases.
I have chronic anxiety. Honestly, my ADHD medication has been helping a lot. I was diagnosed a few months ago and have been on medication. I will also apply for accommodation. Drilling with additional time has been helping me keep my anxiety in check. Talk to your doctor as soon as you can, get medication/therapy, and apply for accommodation. Good luck!
@MnM My anxiety is not severe enough for me to apply for accommodation since it occasionally happens and doesn't necessarily affect daily practice. Anyway thank you for your advice!!