Have you ever had a meltdown in class?

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zeldapsychology
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20 Sep 2011, 4:54 pm

I have already twice and I'm going on my first month!! ! This is my first semester back on a college campus with lecture courses. So that creates anxiety! The 1st meltdown was due to having a speech to do that day in my speech course so 20min. into my Spanish course (I take Spanish then Speech) I had a meltdown. I couldn't handle speaking spanish and then having to do a speech it was overwhelming!! !! Then this past Wed. the professor got to me to say something in spanish and I choked up and left for 5min. then returned.

The professor e-mailed me that she was glad I returned and I handled it well. IMO! UH! I WOULD KICK ME OUT OF THE DAMN CLASS!! !! So 2 meltdowns already into the semester. I think I'll be ok now since I have the 1st speech done so that anxiety has decreased and while I struggled Monday in Spanish a little she was understanding and walked me through what I was supposed to say. :-) She IS very supportive so YA for that. So I'm curious has anyone ever had a meltdown in class?



bigcoop
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20 Sep 2011, 5:03 pm

I have come close, but left the room so it just looked like i was going to the rest room. It's tough, things will get better, your school should have a disability center where you can retreat if need be. The tone my teachers set really affect my moods too.



DragonKazooie89
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20 Sep 2011, 10:59 pm

Only when I got problems wrong or was being teased. I was too hard on myself and I was a perfectionists until Junior year of high school. In college, I only broke down when I was so frustrated with a math program or a programming assignment because I couldn't solve it or I couldn't figure out why the program didn't run correctly or didn't run at all.



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21 Sep 2011, 1:49 am

I had a mini-meltdown when I was a freshmen taking British Literature and my TA gave me a C on a final draft of an essay that he had told me how to revise. I was under the impression that he liked my rough draft and that if I fixed all of the tiny little details, that I would receive an A. However, when I asked him after class what had caused my essay to merit a C he said, "I don't know. There was nothing really wrong with it. It just wasn't very exciting."

I was so boiling mad I just wanted to scream at him "WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU WRITE THAT IN RED ON MY ROUGH DRAFT INSTEAD OF JUST CORRECTING MY PUNCTUATION!?" .... but I'm not very eloquent when I'm mad, so I think I just stood there and cried at him instead. It was super awkward the next class...



MagicMeerkat
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22 Sep 2011, 9:56 pm

All the time in grade school.


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Teredia
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28 Sep 2011, 10:44 am

yeah, in primary and highschool every single day. In class and outside of it. On the bus even. at home.
I 1st shut down and then if i get smothered by people i meltdown and its not pretty.
I have shutdown twice this semester because of one lecturer who is an absolute J%#&%@*.
For me shutting down makes it so i dont melt down and go off my head at the lecturer. I think id be kicked out of uni if i went all psycho at the lecturer.



littlelily613
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28 Sep 2011, 8:48 pm

I had meltdowns when I was a kid in elementary and junior high. Had fewer in high school, but still there. I meltdown A LOT, even now, but have usually been good at doing it in private. Lately though, I've been melting down EVERYWHERE including school (now in fourth year university). I've had buildups to meltdowns on campus before, but not the full thing. About a year ago I had a meltdown in my professor's office--not about grades or anything. I don't remember exactly. Had something to do with change (and he doesn't know I'm autistic, so I am sure that was even more awkward for him). In the last week or two I had two in class. I always sit in the back corner, so in one of my classes I meltdown ultimately because of loud, repetitive noises outside the classroom (things built up to the meltdown and that set it off). I ended up rocking hard in my chair, and I am pretty sure some people must have noticed. I was also silently crying. In another class, I could feel a meltdown building up all day (I melted down for 12 hours that day, ending in a several hour shutdown), and one guy sat in my chair when he knows I always sit there. I find it difficult to sit in the middle of the room because there is too much to process from all sides (and I ALWAYS sit in the back corner). I was pushed to the middle of the room, and it just set off the already building meltdown. I burst into tears and left the room without returning that lecture. He has not sat in my chair again....These meltdowns are becoming overbearing though. I hate having them at school, but I have very little control over where and when they strike.


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LostUndergrad9090
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28 Sep 2011, 10:47 pm

yes but I can usually hold them in, not my shutting down though, it happens and well its not fun.



Descartes
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28 Sep 2011, 10:50 pm

Well, earlier this week I had to step out of my Bio Lab class for a minute because I was feeling anxious and flustered, but I wouldn't call that a meltdown.

There was this one time during my sophomore year in high school when we were watching a video of a lady whose face was destroyed from a drunk driving accident. I started to feel very sick - my eyesight blurred and I had a feeling that I was about to throw up - so I got out of my seat and went straight to the restroom (I didn't vomit, I just needed a breather).


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nikaTheJellyfish
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07 Oct 2011, 8:13 pm

I had one right before a chem test once. I was just to overwhelmed to think. Thankfully my professor was one of those kid caring college professors. She saw me in the hall coming in and told me to go home and take the make-up test. The make-up test was all essay/ short answer as opposed to multiple choice, but that has always been easier for me anyway.

Melt downs happen but I find the best way to handle being overwhelmed is to just leave for a minute. If I notice it starting I leave the room (i sit on the edge always) and walk down the hall for a minute. It's usually quiet during class. If I can reutrn to class I do, and if not I get my stuff and go home.

The other thing I do is to make sure I do the things I know to do to prevent meltdowns. Still though, it happens

Hope it works out ok for you.



Andie09
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08 Oct 2011, 8:27 pm

I just had one in my writing class Thursday. We had a prompt to write about and I literally could not think of ANYTHING to say. My mind started cycling faster and faster and I was frozen in my seat. I couldn't even get up to go the bathroom to hide. I just sat there rocking holding my jacket sleeve over my mouth so no one would hear me. The professor started asking people what ideas they had written down after and omg if she would have called on me I would have burst into tears right there. Thankfully I sit a bit away from everyone so hopefully they didn't hear me snort once or twice trying to hold it in. I didn't turn in a paper so I emailed the teacher later and told her my situation. However, I'm not registered in the disabilities office so I'm not sure how much good it will do. I'm off to a great start this term.



Embroglio
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09 Oct 2011, 10:09 pm

I can't say I've had a melt down in class for years. Last time I had one in class was during my Junior Year of high school. Where I called my chemistry teacher an as*hole, got told to leave, and flipped him off as I left his classroom. But then again this man didn't like me or any "problem" student. He was the most inflexible and rigid teacher I ever had. If I remember it was over him not accepting my home work or something minor like that. And I had had minor altercations with him throughout the year.



Sniffletouille
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13 Oct 2011, 1:52 am

Chemistry: Started to tear up after doing the same procedure over and over again because I kept miscounting how many ml of each solution to add. I need more work with juggling a lot of numbers in my head.



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21 Oct 2011, 12:39 am

I nearly did this last spring during third-year intensive Japanese. I'd been worrying myself sick over not having perfect grades and was forgoing adequate sleep in order to study.

When I felt it start during class one day, my terror of what I might do was the only thing preventing me from losing my control. I really wanted to be a perfect student. Somehow I managed to remain functional for the rest of the class but it was pretty scary. I remember feeling a bit dazed and somewhat more uninhibited (more aggressive in my dealings with others) for the rest of the day.

I'm trying to make a habit of speaking to the school counselors more often and I've recently started on anxiety medication--with no adverse reactions thus far--so I'm hoping the worst is behind me.



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24 Oct 2011, 1:45 pm

It has happened. Now I have a deal with my mum that if I become too overwhelmed I go to the bathroom, cry my eyes out for 5-15 min. And if I still feel bad I'm aloud to go home. This happens way to often. I hate school T_T.



alexi
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25 Oct 2011, 3:10 pm

Yes. Many times. It is an awful feeling to sit there in a class while your head is imploding. If I can put my head down on the desk it is less likely to happen, but teachers view that as being disrespectful or not paying attention. For me it blocks out enough of the visual stimuli to make a difference. I also constantly am drawing or making patterns while I'm listening. It is a stim. It gives me something controlled to visually focus on so that I can process the verbal side better. Again the problem is that it is often viewed as not paying attention. There have been many times in my schooling that I have been in trouble for this. Now that I understand more what is happening and why I do it, I intend to have a word with my uni tutors at the start of semester just to reassure them that I mean no disrespect by appearing that I am bored by them and paying no attention at all. This will alleviate some of my worry that I will be in trouble.