When is taking a semester off a good idea?

Student Lounge College Life
1

I’m looking at taking next spring off. I’ve already lost my scholarships (ha) so there’s no real financial perk to suffering through. I have the self awareness to know that this desire to leave stems from depression, anxiety, and stress. I’m already seeking help for those things. I understand what the root causes are (some emotional trauma freshman year, coupled with some predisposition to anxiety). Now I’m at the point where knowing what is wrong and being in treatment doesn’t seem to be enough. I’ve been overloaded and am burnt out. I have an end goal in mind, and the potential to reach it, but with every semester I’m digging a deeper hole in the road to getting there. I’m doing ‘fine’ this semester (3 B’s in 3 difficult sciences, and an A in a liberal arts gen ed), but not ‘exceptionally’, which is where I need to be.

I decided earlier this fall I would take 4.5 to 5 years to complete anyway, so that I could use some time to bolster my GPA and really prove myself for professional school. To be able to show “this was what was wrong years 1-2, and I stayed late to fix it and show that I really discovered my passion”. Which I have. I love every second doing what I want to do (going on 4 semesters of internship). In that sense a semester off wouldn’t set me back at all.

I don’t want to do anything academic or goal oriented in this time frame. I just want to go do something I love (travel a bit), and maybe rediscover who I am without anxiety being my defining feature. I decided to au pair and have already found a family, host country, everything. I just have to tell my parents and sign a contract.

Does this seem like an absolutely terrible idea? If not, how do I go about having this conversation with my parents?

2

It’s entirely possible that a semester off will recharge your batteries, help you refocus on your goals, and bring you back tanned, rested, and ready to beat college into submission.

It’s also entirely possible that a semester off will teach you that quitting is a great way to avoid your problems instead of dealing with them, and your anxiety will prevent you from coming back.

I don’t know which. Have you discussed this with your treatment providers, from a purely therapeutic point of view?

If your counselors agree that it would be good for you, that would be a much easier sell to your parents.

3

I’ve discussed it with the one, and she said that at the end of the day I know myself best and I should think it over for a good while. But she doesn’t think it will hurt me. I’ve been pushing through school for 3 semesters now on treatment, and I’m only getting marginally better. I think we’ve all started to take on an approach of ‘something needs to change, why not have it be this.’

4

Will you continue to see a therapist during your break?

Talk in more detail with your therapist. A concern might be is that if you take a break from school then a lot of your anxiety triggers disappear. However, it might make it harder to learn how to deal with your anxiety when you are not actively dealing with what causes your issues. While the break will feel great and might possibally recharge you, it will all come back to you when you return to school. I am assumming that you have a mental health illness.

Have you discuss other options such as a reduce course load? Have you discussed medication? Have you tried CBT? Maybe you need a different therapist.

When the day is done, only you know your limits. You might need the break but I would continue treatment regardless of what you choose to do. Otherwise, your break will just delay your process in learning how to effectively deal with your anxiety…

5

If I’m not travelling, yes. It doesn’t do me any good to stop. I’ve reduced my course load when possible, but unfortunately, for what I want to do post undergraduate, I need to prove myself with a heavy courseload.

I have a mental illness in the sense that I am definitely suffering from very overwhelming generalized anxiety, but that came on very suddenly due to a very specific trigger. I had come a long way, and then suffered a major set back. Growing up and through high school, I never suffered even the slightest anxiety except some mild phone anxiety. My initial therapist had strong hopes that I would be one of those cases who could work through the triggers and coping mechanisms and eventually my problems would go away.

I’m currently on medication and have done CBT. I know my ‘triggers’ pretty well thanks to CBT. I can also talk myself down or out of panic attacks. It just isn’t doing much for the fact that my mind quickly goes into overload and then I just shut down. I get so much adrenaline about other things (my trauma from freshman year, my situation last spring, my financial problems this summer) that I’m completely immune to healthy forms of stress (the pressure to study, to do well on an exam, etc.) Those things don’t even register on my stress levels. My anxiety is, for the major part, social and financial. Education plays very little role, but the anxiety is negatively affecting my education (this has all been agreed upon with a mental health professional).

In the past, I’ve loved studying languages and I studied abroad in high school. I found that pushing myself well beyond my comfort zone caused me to grow massive amounts as a person. I guess mentally I’m trying to recapture that ‘high’ of being self-confident and doing something I was good at. While abroad I’d be taking intensive language courses, so I wouldn’t be not studying. I miss my family abroad who I haven’t seen in 3-4 years so much it hurts. I’m not trying to justify my travelling, just trying to analyze my situation with possible outside input.

I’m trying so hard not to make this decision impulsively. I don’t register for spring until early November, and I don’t need to apply for a visa until a similar time frame. I have a month to let this roll around in my head and to bounce off people in my life.

Some things I’m doing for my anxiety: I am only allowed to work a budget once (rather than over and over compulsively like I was this summer), I am required to make one new acquaintance/friend/study buddy per course each semester (self imposed, some of these friends slide when the semester ends, but I’d say I’ve acquired 5 or 6 really good friends since my utter isolation fall of sophomore year), medicine, CBT (not currently in due to insurance change). I brought my dog from home to help structure my day and help with the socially rooted fear of failure (I know he will love me, no matter how big of mistakes I make). I also make sure at least 6 hours a week are blocked out for honest to goodness hobbies that aren’t video games, Netflix, or junk food.

Sorry for the wall of text! This has become my processing post where I just spill out all of my thoughts. So sorry!

6

Okay. It is appears that you have a good (if not excellent) therapist, great self awareness and a good understanding of your illness. In your case, I would discuss your future goals about grad school and type of careers with your therapist to get a feel for if those plans are realistic. I suspect that they are. I would also discuss with your academic advisor about how grad schools in your field feel about taking time off. I suspect that it is not an issue.

Bottom line, the ONLY opinion that matters is your therapist since they hopefully know what stage you are at with your anxiety and how you are coping and those that are closest to you. Taking that input along with you own self awareness should enable to make a sound decision. I only say this because based on your post, you seem to have reached the point where you recognize how your anxiety is clouding your judgement and have actively sought out qualify help to evaluate this decision.

Thank you for posting. Your post shows others that there is hope in treating this form of mental illness.

One word of caution. You need to made sure that you follow every rule about taking time off from your school and research the pitfalls. When my daughter did this, she actual had to formally withdraw from school and apply for readmission after her leave. In her case is was more of a paperwork exercise but it had to done. You also need to understand how this impacts your ability to register for classes. Will you get the same time slot? Will your financial aid be impacted? Does the school allow you to take courses during your leave? Hopefully none of this will be an issue but you need to understand the rules.

7

You sound very self-aware and mature. Much more so than most college students. College, more so than life after, can snowball because the work just keeps coming and the grades keep sinking. I have completely messed up projects at work, but could take a breather, do something more mundane, and then step back and start something new. This same scenario doesn’t really happen in college unless you take time off.

Do you think the triggers will be gone if you go overseas and work as an au pair, though? Those are a lot of transitions to go through, and I would feel bad if the kids you are taking care of had to deal with you leaving earlier than expected. Other than that, though, from what you have written, it sounds like taking time off might be a good thing for you, as long as you make sure you follow the rules of your school, as someone else stated above.