My Support Forums - View Single Post - Social Anxiety & Class Participation (HELP!!)

+Fight+The+Illness+ · Aug 28, 2011, 10:46 AM

Greetings Sweet-Hearted and Gentle-People,

The new semester started on August 18th and my anxiety has been freaking out everyday since then. I'm currently taking a Spanish class where class participation is a requirement. The professor will pick students out of the class and ask them a question in Spanish and then the student to respond in Spanish. Every student gets called on at least once every class (I have the class 4 times a week). So the professor calls on me once a class, which is 4 times a week. It's been quite a while since my anxiety has been this awful.

I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety when I was 6 years old, and it continues to have it's paralyzing grip on me. I know I'm going to talk to my professor about my anxiety as soon as I can, but that's the problem:
I went to his office during his office hours on Friday, but he wasn't there!! He also has office hours on Monday and Wednesday from 9-10am, but I don't get out of class until 9:50am and then I start his class at 10am. He doesn't have office hours on Tuesday, but he does have office hours that I can go to on Thursday but I can't hold off on this until then. I need to tell him about my anxiety ASAP.

It's getting to the point where I feel like I'm losing control of every aspect of my life. Anxiety is possessing every aspect of my life once again, even when I'm not in class. I'm honestly terrified that I'm going to do something that I'll either regret or could hurt myself.

But this is something that I need to talk to him face-to-face about, but I can't see him until Thursday and this can't wait until then. And I don't want to talk to him about it after class b/c
1) He has another class to get too
2) I feel uncomfortable talking about it where someone else could hear what I'm saying. And I feel uncomfortable talking about it in the classroom b/c I feel like he probably won't be solely focused on what I'm saying.

But the good news is that he's a very kind-hearted professor. I wouldn't hesitate to say that he's one of the best professors I've had so far. He gives off the aura that he's approachable and understanding, which is beyond comforting.

So I don't know what exactly I need to do from here, since I can't seem to talk to him in person until Thursday and it can't wait until then.

Any ideas?