Anxiety & OCD

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. This type of anxiety is unpleasant, but it may motivate you to work harder and to do a better job. Ordinary anxiety is a feeling that comes and goes, but does not interfere with your everyday life.

Anxiety is common among college students. Students often have to manage heavy loads of coursework, in addition to participating in extracurricular activities and holding part-time or full-time jobs. Students must also cope with the stress of choosing a new career based on their education goals.

Symptoms of general anxiety include:

• increased heart rate

• rapid breathing

• restlessness

• trouble concentrating

• difficulty falling asleep

Information from www.healthline.com

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental health condition characterized by obsessions which lead to compulsive behaviors. It is characterized by repetitive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and irrational, excessive urges to do certain actions (compulsions).

OCD tends to surface for the first time at an age when many young people are in college. Stress doesn’t cause OCD, but college stress can trigger OCD in students who are predisposed to it.

Symptoms may include obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors associated with OCD generally last more than an hour each day and interfere with daily life.

Information from www.healthline.com