Coping with anxiety in PA school

[kko0403]

Hi everyone, 

I am currently taking LOA from my second semester so that I can better manage my anxiety before I returning to PA school. I was doing well overall this semester but realized that my surmounting anxiety and obsession over my grades was consuming me to the point that I would not be able to perform at the level I would need to in the next month, had I continued. I obsess over exam questions that I got wrong or I sit there for the entire hour during exams, take the test 3-5 times, start second guessing myself, and often change correct answers. Anxiety is a problem that I've been aware of my entire life but I've ignored it because I was always able to perform well despite it. Unfortunately, PA school has definitely brought it to light and I cannot continue to ignore it any longer. I need to seek out treatment through therapy and/or medication before I am ready to return. 

Has anyone else experienced severe anxiety that affected their ability to study or test well in PA school? How did you manage this so that you could be successful? I need to document to my program that I am seeking out treatment during my LOA. Any suggestions at all would be great.

 

Thank you

Edited July 18, 2019 by kko0403

[MT2PA]

Student health would be my first stop.  They can refer you out to local providers if they need to.  My program was on a campus with a med school and extensive graduate college - anxiety was common and the program was very good about encouraging students to be proactive about it.  

Outside of that, find someone in your insurance network and schedule a visit.  If you don't click, see someone else.  

[cgsarmedic]

@kko0403, you may want to seriously consider where you want to be in life.  If you have this much overwhelming anxiety over second guessing exam questions, imagine how much you will have over every patient you send home.  One of the primary reasons I see PAs burn out, or leave practice, is there inability to "let it go" in the patient care arena.  PA School is, without a doubt, stressful and difficulty.  Patient care can be just as overwhelming if not more.  I wish you the best of luck!

 

[kko0403]

20 hours ago, cgsarmedic said:

@kko0403, you may want to seriously consider where you want to be in life.  If you have this much overwhelming anxiety over second guessing exam questions, imagine how much you will have over every patient you send home.  One of the primary reasons I see PAs burn out, or leave practice, is there inability to "let it go" in the patient care arena.  PA School is, without a doubt, stressful and difficulty.  Patient care can be just as overwhelming if not more.  I wish you the best of luck!

 

Hi,

Thank you for your advice. I’ve been through intense medical programs before, I was in a physical therapy doctorate before PA school so I know that I can be a good provider once I better manage my anxiety. Letting it go is such good advice, my program faculty actually told me the same when they said that they noticed I’m one of the people who obsess over exams/results rather than moving on and focusing on the next one. In my time off I’m going to seek out treatment and also work on building better test taking skills.

[rhall13]

I would agree with letting it go. I left every test for a while stressed on if I got a question right or wrong and it destroyed me. I questioned daily if I was “worthy” of PA school. I sabotage myself on tests and I realized the more I over thought things my grade reflected it. However after reviewing tests I realized I changed my gut feeling on a question and went from the right answer to the wrong answer. I changed my testing strategy and slowed down in reading the question and all answer choices, noting why the wrong ones were wrong and the right one was correct. You have to realize you gave it all you had in preparation and come test time just go with what you know. Hope this helps.