For a trauma blog, we get a surprising number of asks regarding how to study, and Iâve finally given in and decided to write a post.
Studying while dealing with symptoms.
Itâs really hard to study for a calculus exam while youâre having flashbacks or read that article for English while intrusive thoughts are knocking on your door.
Thereâs not enough room to go over all the possible symptoms, and possible strategies for dealing with them on a single post, not while being respectful of comprehension. Take a moment to jot down common issues that you have while studying, donât bother to judge them as âtrauma relatedâ or ânot trauma relatedâ or even as âeveryone deals with that.â
One of the things weâre going to encourage you to do is reframe your issues so that you can start looking at other resources out there. Sometimes we get blinders on and while there arenât guides out there for âstudying while having flashbacksâ or âstudying while dealing with hyperarousalâ
there are guides out there about flashbacks in general- and studying with ADHD/ADD.
Donât be afraid to look at things that donât 100% match you, trauma survivors often struggle with attention issues and looking towards people who are sharing their experiences with ADD/ADHD and studying? can help.
Take the list youâve jotted out of things you deal with while studying, and try to find 3-4 different possible solutions that you can use for each one.
Iâm going to give you some of Krisâs personal favorite suggestions for some things that pop up again and again.
Studying while struggling to focus.
- If you donât actually need it, turn off your internet. And I donât mean âbut I might need to google what ____ meansâ. If during a 30 minute study session you might need to use the internet less than three times- turn off your internet, write down things to google as you go.
- Have two/three areas set up for you to work, if possible. Working in your dorm? The bed and the desk- maybe the floor as well. In a house? Take over the living room and kitchen. Canât focus on one thing- physically move to the other. If this is coupled with hyperarousal? Take this time to get some wiggles out. Â Clap, dance, do jumping jacks, whatever it is you need to do. Donât under estimate standing while studying as well. Get some bathroom crayons and write things in your shower, on a large white board on your wall, get butcher paper and use painterâs tape to put it up and write on it.Â
- Know your auditory style. Some people study in complete silence, some people study better listening to familiar music, some people study better while listening to german metal (or french if they speak german. point being- something they canât understand.), others need white noise generators. There are lots of them out there, play around with them.
- Break down what youâre doing into a lot of steps, but keep record. Have a physics final and a paper on the way art propaganda was used during the cold war? Do each one for 5-10 minutes, but make sure to keep at least some basic bullet point notes. If you find yourself in a groove, youâre allowed to stay in the groove, but allow yourself to bounce again when needed.
- When possible, break down what youâre doing into types of tasks. This is especially useful for projects. Need to do research, start writing the paper, turn your resources into a works cited page, look up images? Allow yourself to work on these as your brain is more attuned to it, rather than trying to do things specifically in order.
- Writing a paper but canât focus on typing? Use a program that will allow you to verbally dictate. Youâll probably have to edit out some verbal filler, but itâll probably take less time to edit than the time you would have sat at your keyboard struggling to make yourself type. Personally when I need to edit out things I like to go âFUCKâ and then ramble/what needs to be rewritten followed by âEND FUCKâ  but you could use any word that wonât naturally be in your paper. That way you can âfindâ it and know immediately what needs editing.
- When writing a paper, donât be afraid to leave a large blank with a note about what needs to be there. _________________________(a much better constructed sentence about King Henry the 8thâs 1st wife. Include something about A, B, and C.).
- Better utilize your down time. Â Got a test coming up? Keep your notes for that in your bag and those 5-10 minutes before classes? look over them.
Studying when Trauma Keeps Coming Up
You could be writing a psychology paper, you could be reading about puppies- but your brain is screaming that youâre worthless and that you need to think about how terrible everything is because of what happened.
You try to ignore it, but it just isnât working.
- Take the thought- write it down and then put it in a box and go âIâll deal with that later.â Or burn it.
The idea is to physically interact with the idea. Brains are weird and really appreciate when we physically interact with ideas.
- Contradict the thought, and move on. âYouâre worthless and this is never going to succeed.â meets âYou know what, Iâll never know unless I try so Iâm going to do that right now.â and just, keep quietly repeating that every time the thought intrudes.
- Self soothe before and after studying.
- Info dump. I usually draw a tiny sketch in the middle and then I physically write out everything that is upsetting me in a sort of mish mash manner. It gets it out of my head so that I can go back to working.
- Break up studying into 5-10 minute increments. Start small and see if you can build your endurance up, rather than trying to torture yourself through 30 minutes of sitting still.
- Physically change your environment, either in the sense of going somewhere else, or changing what you see of your environment.
Attempting to cope with Memory Issues
Whether itâs literally remembering to study at all, or dealing with the fact that things wonât commit to memory, there are a few strategies for dealing with this.
- Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Have a test coming up? Put it in your phone. Put it in your google calendar, put it on your physical calendar, put it on a physical sticky note that you are required to look at every time you open your laptop, write it on your thigh/arm whatever works for you. Have frequent reminders of what you have to do and when you have to have them done by.
- To-do lists work for some people, they donât for others. Some people itâs not that to-do lists donât work as much as they donât know how to make one that works for them. Sometimes when our brains are doing the thing- we need to do lists that are extremely broken down. Start your studying session by literally getting out the books. Open the book. Read one paragraph. Break it down into smaller sections so that you arenât just staring at the word âstudyâ and trying to remember how that even happens.
- Use multiple strategies. This is the best way to commit things to memory. Record yourself talking about the topic out loud/reading over your notes- listen to them as well. Write your notes in class and then rewrite them. Check out Studyblrs for all the interesting ways they do notes. Talk to your friend about it, take turns explaining concepts to one another. Make comparisons and metaphors when possible. Use as many strategies as possible so that your brain is building as many synaptic connections as possible to as many different places.
- Keep things out in the open, but not so that they look like clutter. Having the visual reminder of âoh yeah I have to read that bookâ can help, but youâre not going to notice it if itâs just become part of the background mess. your eyes will skip right over it.
Some of the best advice I can give, is to look around for other students (whether they be bloggers or in your classes) who struggle with similar issues. Even if it is that you are dealing with it because of trauma and theyâre dealing with it because of something else- knowing that others are struggling with similar things, and knowing the strategies they use to minimize the distractionâŠ.Â
itâs a powerful thing. Especially when weâre able to frame it as âABC can do this, and if I find the right strategies, I can too. This isnât hopeless. There are others out there like me.â
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