how does one overcome a block towards something...

... my international political ecomy study materials cause my nausea and other sickly feelings. When I try to read any of it, my brain just blocks it. I know no more than I knew at the beginning of the semmester. Had to postpone my exam... have yet to finish my case study (yes, that one makes me sick to my stomach too).

I try to meditate, to do autosugestion and all the jazz... but still I am moving forwards very very slowly.

I know... my problem is insignificant compared to problems of some posters here... but I hate feeling dumb and weak and lazy.

oh hun you are not dumb or lazy. and/but your dilemma is challenging. why not try to study a little at a time. perhaps that will de-sensitize you re your task. it sounds like acute anxiety re your symptoms. are you feeling like you are going to fail? that could bring this pressure on. idk but perhaps this may help u. identifying why you feel this way may help you overcome this fear.

It's more of revulsion... but of course I am afraid I cannot do it. I try to study at small doses... but the block is still there

VenusHalley - I know the feeling of "Im afraid I cannot do it" is a difficult one to over come. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Im not familar with that subject but when I was going to classes and found a class that seemed so overwhelming I found it easy to break things up. For an example: Glancing over the material and anything bold put on an index card and on the back a brief meaning of its importance. Carry the cards with you at all times, and just glance at a few every so often. As for the "big pressure that comes with a case study" start small. Start with an outline (or graph), then add a little facts and information at a time. Soon you will find pages full of facts to put together for the case study. The last that helped me, is I found to break my studying up to several small sessions a day. Give yourself 15 min four times a day to review or work on a project. Put post it notes all over (in the house, the car..etc) about the subject and little ego boosters "I can do this" "im smart" "I can and will reach my goals"........

If you end up taking the class over again (which I have had to do) dont be so hard on yourself about it. Right now might not be the time that works best for you.

Good luck and stick to it. Most important thing is dont be so hard on yourself To me, it was always my down fall when things are overwhelming. I would keep saying "Its to hard, I cant do this". When in fact I could, and I believe so can you!

Take it outside. A nice beautiful calming day, outside with a nice drink and plow through that materiel...your giving yourself a mental hug while you do it, if your out in nature.

Break it up into the smallest chunks that you can, write a list of the ones in front of you, then pick one of them. Just start it, do something. Let yourself do just one small task. Sometimes I start by writing junk, just remember to delete it!!! Often once you start you will keep going, if not, give yourself a short break or reward then try to do another small task. Keep on going, keep on rewarding yourself. You can do it.
JUST ONE LITTLE THING AT A TIME, DO SOMETHING and IT DOESN"T HAVE TO BE PERFECT (this is what I have on my white board along with my list of things to do...) Breaks over, I'm back to work now

Yea, I get what you mean! Though I don't study the exact same topic as you, I am in a University and sometimes the stuff I study gets my mind block like a craaaazy!!!

Well, what I do is that I try to evaluate/summarize the details into something I can understand, one sentence at a time, and link them in a mindmap. Sometimes it helps, though I'm not sure if it can be effective for you though.. It seems to work, and by doing so, allow me to see it in words that I can understand, and link it to everything else as well

I hope it can help you too... don't take it too hard on yourself that you are dumb/weak/lazy! We all have our achilles heel, and I guess this might be yours

Hang in there buddy!

No progress today.... managed to read one text and did not touch the paper

I feel pretty down today and it's taking toll on my concentration.

I know something like that feeling... When I feel like that it's definitely because of stress. I put a lot of pressure on myself and sometime that causes revulsion to school things, particularly the big things like papers and projects. I find that it does help to break things into tiny pieces (like other people mentioned above). And sometimes, if I feel really unable to focus, it's good to take a step back - read something else, exercise, go for a walk, or watch some tv - this will helps refresh my mind.

Hope this helps! I'm sorry you're struggling - that can be SO frustrating!! Best of luck!

Wish I knew. Last in school, I was in art, so it wasn't really an issue as I was so into it, with more ideas than could possibly be accomplished that I made the best use of time ever. BUT. Right now I have a mental block that is so unbelievably stupid, it's driving me around the bend. It's not something that can be broken down into smaller bits and would only take a few minutes(!) I need to be able to do this thing, but am so afraid that I won't be able to, that I just can't! It's VERY frustrating. Wishing someone would just drop out of the sky and show me how, because of being too afraid to even ask. Having mental blocks is very frustrating, and I feel for you on that, Venus.

It might not of been much, and it might not of felt like it was enough - but it was something, so acknowledge that you got something done... I know it can be really hard but you can do it, just one little piece at a time.

Thinking positive thoughts for you

Agree! You did try at least you are trying

It's not an easy thing to do, and I have total respect for anyone who try hard regardless whether they succeed or not.

To try and to fail, takes alot of courage to continue!

Hang in there man! Hope you can make it past the mental block! ><

Maybe if you can study together with someone who you know you can study well woth, and/or reward youslef when you pass a goal, a set number of pages read or articles gone through. make it something really worth suffering for! Good luck. Sounds rough.

well, turned in the case study yesterday. Not saying it was a ground breaking study, but I liked the result. Now going to study some more

(yes, I reward myself

Congratulations
It doesn't have to be perfect it just needs to get done !!!!
Hope you enjoy your victory and your reward

Re: Blocks/ Techniques / Identity:

This is such a familiar feeling, I can't tell you what a relief it is to hear someone express the same difficulty. I have a feeling that the difficulty focusing / nausea is sort of a two-part problem. Difficulty focusing/ problems sustaining attention + difficulty retaining new material is one of the areas that folks treated for bipolarity tend to complain of very frequently. Whether it's the disease's aetiology itself or the neuropharmacologic intervention that causes this cognitive defecit (again: very often reported and demonstrated in clinical studies by folks diagnosed with [and presumably treated for] bipolarity), I won't speculate on in this space.

The nausea I'd suspect, is a perfectly understandable state of anxiety akin to "Oh no! My intelligence, having been a large component of my identity to say nothing of substantively informing my plans for the future, is now gone--" If that's the case, you've gotta challenge it, as you have been with positive affirmations--even so, those still leave room for massive doubts like: "good lord, I'm lazy then." You're certainly not--you're strategizing on how to wrangle with a somewhat compromised neurological state!! (wowie.) I'd say this further--your native intelligence (which I'd guess from your writing-style / course-of-study is substantial) has very little to do with what's happened to your ability to sustain attention at this point, which has probably been impacted to some extent: How to fix it?

The best information I've been able to find on this stuff says things that might seem obvious, but probably bears repeating. The principle of 'healthy body, healthy mind' is very much at work here. Exercise and nutrition will, via some pretty incredible alchemy of the body/mind, increase your ability to stay focused. Often more cerebral folks (maybe I'm projecting here) will say something like 'that's far too tenuous a connection to produce the cognitive results i absolutely need to see to reassure myself that i can tackle difficult mental tasks successfully.' To avoid running on (more than I already have) I won't bother with a long-winded non-expert speculation of the dynamics of neurophysiology at work there. Smoke less (none's better) / drink less (none's better) too.

I'm wrestling with this topic right now myself. The thought usually goes "durnitall, i'm just lazy! (have become stupid, damaged, etc)" Fight that. And it sounds like you're already having successes doing that: awesome! Getting the study submitted was a major success with this condition, and you should be really proud! (Going out and celebrating with cocktails is something I've had to remind myself repeatedly is a no-no.)

Anywho, if something else occurs to you that works really well, let me know, cause I'm struggling with it too.

Best,
Knos'