How to relieve constant worrying in medical school

[ryanodine1]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get feedback from fellow med students who have found a successful way to deal with constant worrying? I have been doing well in my coursework, however there is always this constant nagging worrying feeling. I think to myself: what if I don't have enough time to study? What if I don't do well? What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances? What if this, what if that? Granted things usually work out ok. But now it has started to get to the point where worrying about no doing well has made me review the same things several times, and its starting to hit my confidence which is not a good sign.

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

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[xffan624]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get feedback from fellow med students who have found a successful way to deal with constant worrying? I have been doing well in my coursework, however there is always this constant nagging worrying feeling. I think to myself: what if I don't have enough time to study? What if I don't do well? What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances? What if this, what if that? Granted things usually work out ok. But now it has started to get to the point where worrying about no doing well has made me review the same things several times, and its starting to hit my confidence which is not a good sign.

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

Professional help. SDN is not for medical advice.

 

[ryanodine1]

Im asking other med students who experienced what I'm going regarding what worked for them; not a referral. Thanks for your input anyways.

 

[NontradCA]

Professional help. SDN is not for medical advice.

 

[Mad Jack]

Stop caring. Apathy is the only thing that can help you.

 

[Jabbed]

Professional help. SDN is not for medical advice.

He wasn't asking for SSRI recommendations, he was asking how other people cope with stress.

OP: If you're happy with your class performance so far, consider setting a study schedule whereby you force yourself to stop working on school-related stuff after a certain point in the day. Use the extra time to branch out your interests a bit. The beauty of this is that if you force yourself to only study for x number of hours per day, you'll feel much more motivated than you otherwise would. Plus you'll have free time.

If you absolutely can't even think about doing anything non-medicine related, use the free time to read up on topics that interest you. You'll maintain your efficiency during your dedicated study time and the 'off the clock' reading in an unrelated subject matter keeps your studying diverse enough to avoid boredom. You can even convince yourself that it'll improve your academic performance down the road.

Also remember to keep it in perspective. While you're in the thick of it it's very easy get tunnel vision and feel like you're whole life is riding on the next path test. It's not. Don't worry.

Avoid burn out.

PS: And as numerous members have indelicately suggested, consider seeing someone if you find that you can't cope with the stress.

 

[Roxas]

what if I don't have enough time to study?

If you're doing well so far, apparently this is a non-issue

What if I don't do well?

welcome to my life. It's not as bad as it looks.

What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances?

you'll suck it up and join the other ~50% of med students with below average step scores

What if this, what if that?

either learn to deal on your own, or see someone. You'll be fine.

 

[Darth Doc]

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

I've come to accept that this is how I deal with life - I worry needlessly- it's me. I've finally learned to stop worrying about worrying. I get super stressed the last few days before the exam, but other than that I've come to accept a certain level of baseline worrying. For me it's completely normal. I've come to accept that I'll periodically stress about whether I'll get my residency of choice or if I'll score well enough for something I might like but am not sure about yet. It's okay. There's a lot riding on one test that I'm spending the next 1.5 years studying for. Except, it's not just one score. It's also the other things we do, like research, and who we are as people.

Seriously, you're on SDN and you're worried about worrying too much. Accept that you're slightly neurotic, it's just who you are. Things will work out fine because you're working too hard for them not to in the long run. If that doesn't work (along with a little exercise and maybe a little more sleep), then get professional advice.

 

[ryanodine1]

For all of you who gave your helpful advice, I really appreciate it, thank you. I don't get the point of people posting "professional help", this is a forum for med students to discuss things, and I'm asking for advice from other students who experienced the same thing.

Thanks all for taking the time to write out your thoughts and advice.

 

[colbgw02]

For all of you who gave your helpful advice, I really appreciate it, thank you. I don't get the point of people posting "professional help", this is a forum for med students to discuss things, and I'm asking for advice from other students who experienced the same thing.

I'm guessing the point is that your OP (e.g. having a "constant nagging worrying feeling") comes across as pathologic.

 

[pathologyDO]

For all of you who gave your helpful advice, I really appreciate it, thank you. I don't get the point of people posting "professional help", this is a forum for med students to discuss things, and I'm asking for advice from other students who experienced the same thing.

Thanks all for taking the time to write out your thoughts and advice.

There has been a student in the past that has posted on this forums, posted about how hard life was, and then ended up taking her life. We know because her mother later came onto these forums to let us all know... And then the mother took her own life too!

It's good to get advice but we should all be aware that what might seem as just another SDN post about the normal struggles of medical school, could also be a serious reach out for help with someone that is suicidal. If you are feeling any thoughts of taking your life, please, please seek professional help.

/soap box

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

Xanax. 👍👍👍

 

[VisionaryTics]

Xanax. 👍👍👍

Or liquid, non-prescription Xanax.

 

[okokok]

Exercise has helped me deal with stress/anxiety immensely this semester. I've still been feeling a little depressed, but I'm blaming it on the frigid weather and I keep telling myself I'll feel better come spring. In the meantime, I try to get and give support to other med school friends and try to remember who I was before I started med school. I let myself do bad on an exam here or there (or not "let" myself, but sometimes just cannot study another minute when I know I don't know the material in enough detail to do well on the exam; we have an average of 2 exams a week and it's constant high stress). When I do not-as-well-as-I'd-like, I see that everything is still fine and I recover and go about my day. I ask classmates how they're doing to take my thoughts off of myself. I ask friends and family members how they're doing and try to keep the entire conversation on them and not talk about school at all. I've had a hard semester and these are things I've found that have helped. Another thing is finding an older student for advice (I'm an M1; I emailed an M4 at my school), who told me what really mattered in M1 and what really didn't. Just knowing that was a huge, huge stress relief. I recommend finding someone who's been through this at your school to get advice from.

 

[anbuitachi]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get feedback from fellow med students who have found a successful way to deal with constant worrying? I have been doing well in my coursework, however there is always this constant nagging worrying feeling. I think to myself: what if I don't have enough time to study? What if I don't do well? What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances? What if this, what if that? Granted things usually work out ok. But now it has started to get to the point where worrying about no doing well has made me review the same things several times, and its starting to hit my confidence which is not a good sign.

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

This is a serious response, but your best option is to drop out of medicine. I would highly recommend that if you are MS1 or 2. Or even 3.
If you can't get yourself to drop out, learn to stop caring. You are worried about what if you dont do well? Well.. find out! Once you find out that nothing really happens if you dont do well, you'll worry less about not doing well, because you've been there. And even people who fail the year have an excellent shot at matching into residency. Also just know that many other people are going thru the same thoughts, they just dont show it.

I was actually in your shoes not that many years ago. I also worried a lot but I learned to not give a crap. After seeing friends fail classes, fail step, fail the year, friends who have to deal with family deaths etc, my worries just seemed not very significant. Who cares if I fail a test? Theres the next test. If i end up failing the test, i can just repeat it. So what? My heart will continue to beat, and I'll have a future regardless of whether i pass the class or not. Learn to care less, to not give a crap. I have a exam on tuesday and im 500 pages behind, oh well, too bad, If i fail i'll just do the makeup exam. I learned to care so little that I may have overdone it... i literally dont really care about my rank list or where I end up as long as I match

 

[graviton]

Stop caring. Apathy is the only thing that can help you.

I used to be a perfectionist, but now I don't give a f***.



(or consult a psychiatrist)

 

[JP2740]

Marijuana QHS PRN

 

[Serous Demilune]

Marijuana QHS PRN

hahaha this is what i do. .5g Q2

 

[NontradCA]

hahaha this is what i do. .5g Q2

Youre gonna be a terrible doctor.

Sarcasm.

 

[charmiedermie]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get feedback from fellow med students who have found a successful way to deal with constant worrying? I have been doing well in my coursework, however there is always this constant nagging worrying feeling. I think to myself: what if I don't have enough time to study? What if I don't do well? What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances? What if this, what if that? Granted things usually work out ok. But now it has started to get to the point where worrying about no doing well has made me review the same things several times, and its starting to hit my confidence which is not a good sign.

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

Do u feel like your worries are legitimate or do u think/know that u might be blowing it out of proportion? I think keeping your thoughts from snowballing before you've even done it is important. 4 years is a long time to be anxious everyday.

 

[spartan564]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get feedback from fellow med students who have found a successful way to deal with constant worrying? I have been doing well in my coursework, however there is always this constant nagging worrying feeling. I think to myself: what if I don't have enough time to study? What if I don't do well? What if I screw up my Step 1 and limit my chances? What if this, what if that? Granted things usually work out ok. But now it has started to get to the point where worrying about no doing well has made me review the same things several times, and its starting to hit my confidence which is not a good sign.

I'm spending quite a lot of time studying, but this worrying is starting to slow me down, and I'm become less and less productive. Any successful methods on how you dealt with this sort of thing?

I tend to stress out a lot over medical school because Im applying into a competitive speciality but I find it is actually what has made me successful. What I think to be the most helpful is to try and isolate what it is in particular you are worried about and then figure out what you can do to prepare for what you are worried about. This may seems obvious, but a lot of the time I am stressing about stuff because I know there is "a lot to due" but I don't really even know exactly what all of that entails so I spend a little time dicing it out. I find this concept to be mentally easing in that once I have determined and follow through with an appropriate study plan or whatever, there is nothing else I could have done differently and it is then out of my hands. I don't tend to worry about things if I have zero control over it or if I tried my best because there wasn't anything else you could have done anyways. Hope this helps.

And just to add, 4 years is a lot of time to be anxious. luckily I was pass/fail for the first two years so it really boils down to 2nd half of 2nd year preparing for your step, third year, and first half of fourth year. It certainly has not been easy and you will want to cry or quit but just try and realize that after medical school you will have much fewer grades or career altering choices hanging out over your head. At least I tell myself that.

 

[Psai]

I just stopped caring
My grades have went down but I'm less stressed than ever before

 

[e30ftw]

you need to channel stress into productivity.

the key is to have an appropriate stress response at the beginning of the semester in order to do well on the first set of exams. If you do well early you'll have a cushion. I usually started out studying a lot for the first exam week and then later in the semester slacking off.

the better your grades, the more chill your lifestyle can be.

 

[taavi]

I feel like I was in the exact same spot in my first year as you are now. Despite finishing at the top of my class, I was constantly worrying and it almost got the better of me.

Try to spend less time on your own, in your room studying, and spend more time with friends. One of my biggest challenges was adapting to a new city and being away from my childhood friends. Going out and making new connections helps a lot, even if it's just to distract you from yourself.

Exercise is another big one that someone mentioned above. I laughed it off my first year, saying that I'd rather spend the extra hour studying than hitting the gym, but I finally gave in last semester. I can promise it's made a palpable difference. If you're stressed for time, stick to cardio - much more effective way to unwind than weight lifting 😉

By reducing the amount of time you spend studying, you'll use that time more efficiently and you'll have less time to stress. If you were struggling with your courses, I wouldn't be suggesting this, but from your original post, it seems like you're handling everything just fine. You can never know everything! Sometimes you just have to accept that 🙂

 

[PikminOC]

There has been a student in the past that has posted on this forums, posted about how hard life was, and then ended up taking her life. We know because her mother later came onto these forums to let us all know... And then the mother took her own life too!

It's good to get advice but we should all be aware that what might seem as just another SDN post about the normal struggles of medical school, could also be a serious reach out for help with someone that is suicidal. If you are feeling any thoughts of taking your life, please, please seek professional help.

/soap box

Wow.
I did not know that.
What did the mother write on here?
Was she mad?
Maybe the mods should shut this down.

 

[GoPelicans]

Honestly, I have just learned to embrace it because I am a very average medical student and I would probably come close to failing a few exams if I gave myself more chill time. Pass at our school is generally 70-75 and I average around 85-88 on exams. On most exams what would be like an additional 8-10 or so incorrect answers would cause me to fail. Definitely scares me straight a little bit.

 

[charmiedermie]

Honestly, I have just learned to embrace it because I am a very average medical student and I would probably come close to failing a few exams if I gave myself more chill time. Pass at our school is generally 70-75 and I average around 85-88 on exams. On most exams what would be like an additional 8-10 or so incorrect answers would cause me to fail. Definitely scares me straight a little bit.

8-10 questions is a lot.