Why does math make me fucking panic?
I completed all my hw and I am so scared to take the exam (it's online) I've failed cal 2 twice because of avoidant behavior I have. I get so terrified of doing bad that I just sort of put it off. I don't know how to overcome it.
>>8140952
>Failed twice because of avoidant behavior
I swear if schools just allowed for regulated consumption of weed before major tests this wouldn't be such a common problem.
I have pathological anxiety that manifests as avoidance when not managed properly.
find a therapist.
>>8141073
How does one go about finding a therapist, preferably psychiatrist, without using parent's health insurance?
>>8141094
if you go to a university you should have a student health center
>>8141096
Sorry for retarded question again... My university offers psychologists, will these be able to refer me to a psychiatrist?
>>8141099
idk how it works since i've not seen one
math is for real men, and you're a complete sissy. nothing strange here
>>8141096
>if you go to a university you should have a student health center
Yeah, but, in the US, don't do that thoughtlessly.
Read FERPA, and the university's related policies.
>>8140952
It's a universal human reaction to be afraid of things that are unfamiliar. In your case, you just are unfamiliar with mathematics. You literally, just need to spend more time thinking and reading about mathematics.
I used to have this to, and to overcome the fear, I literally slept with mathematics text next to me on my bed (admittedly a large bed so it wasn't uncomfortable, I wasn't bumping into them at night) and would read from texts that I had ZERO understanding of, just to desensitize myself from the fear of the of them. It's embarrassing, so I wouldn't tell people, but really, just pick some topics in mathematics that physically scare you (for me I kept a functional analysis textbook and some other books with big scary french-jargon-filled titles for graduate students (etale cohomology, topoi, sheaves, bundles, fibers, the usual suspects,)), and just read the texts before bed. Eventually, they will not only become less frightening, but you'll become curious as to what they mean, thus leading you to 'learn' about them and thus giving you motivational fuel for mathematical studying and exploration, rather than avoidance of mathematics.
Also, read supplementary material, like history of mathematics. If I don't understand a concept, I often will read about it's history, the motivation for the concept, and then I usually get a better intuition for it, eventually allowing me to build it independent of the text. Always refer to things you are familiar with. If you aren't familiar with anything in math, find something. For me it was euclidean geometry and natural numbers. Going back and forth between geometric constructions and building sequences of naturals, helped me get more comfortable with math in general even if the specific details of whatever theory I was reading about was difficult to follow. You have to have something you can refer to, some kind of background.
>>8143605
last thing
The funny thing about studying the history of math, is that you eventually see how silly the distinction between "pure" and "applied" math is, and that a lot of the distinction is just posturing from one camp or the other ("you're not useful!" vs. "you're just a model-monkey!"). Don't be scared by unfamiliar things, remember they all have roots in things that primitive people once understood, and thus you can too eventually understand!
>>8141035
DUDE