Help Studying with depression

[lwovely]

Hi, I struggled with major depressive disorder for my whole life ever since I was a teen. I'm currently now 19 and I find it super difficult to study. I know this is probably the wrong site to ask but I'll shoot my shot anyway.

I'm wondering how do you guys study and retain information because I struggle to do so since my mind is super foggy. After a couple minutes like studying isn't hard to do it's the retaining the information is a major issue for me. It's hard to take tests so I am wondering if anybody has advice to overcome this. Thank you!

 

[botanormal]

Usually when I'm trying to learn new things, I like to familiarise myself by asking a bunch of specific questions about the topic that interest me. If there's something that doesn't make much sense, I delve deeply into why it is the way it is. Also, regularly quizzing yourself on the information you've just learned. I've always found spaced repetition to be really helpful (my memory is absolutely abysmal but that study method has always helped me!). Ultimately, it's really hard to study when you have so many mental blocks in your way - I don't have to study under the pressure of any schooling system & I haven't for years so I'm sorry if my advice was a bit vague or things you already tried. I really wish you the best of luck in trying though! The fact you're even here asking these questions is a step forward! Perhaps if you're in university or something, you could also speak to an advisor there about these problems - they may be able to help too.

 

[jennc]

personally, having a study partner helped me, we would quiz each other randomly about the topics we studied which helped with revision and if u teach/ help someone with the topic its easier to retain the information on that topic.

 

[usernamesarehard]

Hi, I struggled with major depressive disorder for my whole life ever since I was a teen. I'm currently now 19 and I find it super difficult to study. I know this is probably the wrong site to ask but I'll shoot my shot anyway.

I'm wondering how do you guys study and retain information because I struggle to do so since my mind is super foggy. After a couple minutes like studying isn't hard to do it's the retaining the information is a major issue for me. It's hard to take tests so I am wondering if anybody has advice to overcome this. Thank you!

I don't really have any advice from personal experience. I've always had a pretty easy time taking tests and retaining info, at least for long enough to pass the test.

But one thing that I've heard is to explain the topic in a way a child could understand it. Don't use over complicated words, don't try to make it sound like you're giving a dissertation. Just explain the basics in simple english. Can't find the YouTube video where I saw this now. Will update if I find it later.

 

[Dqope]

Hi, I struggled with major depressive disorder for my whole life ever since I was a teen. I'm currently now 19 and I find it super difficult to study. I know this is probably the wrong site to ask but I'll shoot my shot anyway.

I'm wondering how do you guys study and retain information because I struggle to do so since my mind is super foggy. After a couple minutes like studying isn't hard to do it's the retaining the information is a major issue for me. It's hard to take tests so I am wondering if anybody has advice to overcome this. Thank you!

I am 19 aswell. To be honest I read a chapter of a manga/manhwa I wanted to read and then studied for 30 min (you can even do porn xd).

Though the past few months I have really struggled to find the point to life so even that doesnt help anymore. I will probably go soon...

 

[Higurashi415]

I feel like there's a spectrum to this... if I'm having a depressive "period" (usually months for me), it won't be all black all the time. Sometimes it'll be a shade of grey that allows me to still study, albeit I'm waaay slower than when I'm normal. Sometimes I won't be able to study for a week or a month. I try to "catch the moment" in which I'm able to study, recognize it and act upon it.

Much is left to chance, unfortunately. I don't really have a better suggestion than this: try to be very aware of the moments during which your brain ACTUALLY works, and STUDY.

 

[LetMeSeeTheSun]

i found that running/doing cardio helped me a lot to clear brain fog
I have a rope in my room at my height and i use it to do boxing ( see joined : )

 

[Buh-bye!]

I feel like there's a spectrum to this... if I'm having a depressive "period" (usually months for me), it won't be all black all the time. Sometimes it'll be a shade of grey that allows me to still study, albeit I'm waaay slower than when I'm normal. Sometimes I won't be able to study for a week or a month. I try to "catch the moment" in which I'm able to study, recognize it and act upon it.

Much is left to chance, unfortunately. I don't really have a better suggestion than this: try to be very aware of the moments during which your brain ACTUALLY works, and STUDY.

Real.

i found that running/doing cardio helped me a lot to clear brain fog
I have a rope in my room at my height and i use it to do boxing ( see joined : )

Be safe friend, don't you dare go to hollow.

Any form of exercise, be it weighted like in the Gym, clears brain fog on tremendous levels. It's on you to retain that mind space for longer periods since it's only temporary. Meditation is great too.

 

[lowres]

As botanormal mentioned space repetition is goated, I just started an associates of psych and so far my classes have just given insanely helpful study resources so I don't have to do much other than read the book and practice the material with the extra resources.

Right now I'm trying not to overdo my notes, I'm finding i read the book and then write down a way to many notes and I'm beginning to realize that this is not feasible because it takes me like six hours or more per chapter and some classes expect us to do two chapters of reading each week. I'm getting good grades but this is stressing me tf out to stay caught up. Honestly if ppl have note taking recs please help me.

Read before the classes, once you get used to each textbook you will realize where the good info is. Once you've read the material and taken some notes the class will just end up being review, then review the material at least once more before your midterm. If the book or class has no extra resources to test yourself on the material, anki is your friend. It's a great digital flashcard thing that helps with doing spaced repetition. I recommend it 100%


- top comment from this thread is really good, this especially works with peer reviewed articles bc them bitches is like 100 pages long sometimes and no one in their right mind is reading allat.



like darksoulsman said exercise is great. another thing I find helpful is meditating prior to studying as it helps a bit with the initial brainfog of anxiety and I can at least get into some kind of flow before the panic settles back in and words look like nothingness. I typically go for 10-15 minutes and use a simple mantra. I liked using 1giantmind on my phone to teach me to meditate.