Anxiety means inner restlessness and unease, and it is usually connected to physical symptoms such as a racing heartbeat, trembling, stomach symptoms, sweating or dizziness. Short-term anxiety is natural phenomenon and does not mean you have an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are disorders where anxiety is long-term and disproportionate to the situation. Anxiety may vary in intensity or grow depending on the situation. Often people who have felt anxious in a given situation start to avoid that situation. However, avoidance may make the symptoms worse and limit the person’s life.
Social anxiety refers to a condition in which the person is afraid of being the focus of attention or embarrassing themselves in the eyes of others, and often ends up avoiding situations where groupwork or performing is required. The student may avoid speaking in class or may drop out of a course for fear of having to give oral presentations. Establishing new friendships or entering into new personal relationships may be challenging due to avoidance of social situations or difficulties in starting conversations. Some of the difficulties brought on by social anxiety are the result of a vicious circle where the person continues to avoid social situations and therefore does not gain the social skills needed in those situations.
In generalised anxiety, anxiousness varies in intensity and is not related to any particular situation or fear but is generalised to a free-floating state. In such cases, worry or concern may also have to do with different aspects of normal life.
To a certain extent, performance anxiety or nervousness is a natural part of life: most of us are nervous sometimes. Nervousness becomes a problem when it complicates or hinders performing everyday tasks or studying. Nervousness may be associated with social situations in general or, for instance, with public speaking or eating in front of other people.
Performance anxiety, or stage fright, is particularly common among university students. The person suffering from stage fright or nervousness does not benefit from being given an easy way out of the assignment. Instead, awareness of the acceptability of nervousness, and providing the student with alternatives and support is more useful.
Anxiety may cause students to underachieve or even paralyse them to the point where they are unable to function at all. It may also slow down the student’s academic progress or cause them to drop out. In the context of studying, anxiety may arise in exams or other evaluation situations. A very strong momentary anxiety may also trigger a panic attack (See under Panic attack and panic disorder).
Everyone benefits from a safe and accepting atmosphere in learning.
Anxiety - FSHS (yths.fi)
Social anxiety - FSHS (yths.fi)
Performance anxiety - FSHS (yths.fi)
Dyslexia is the most common learning difficulty, and 6% of Finnish higher education students have been diagnosed with it (FSHS, KOTT, 2021).Dyslexia is defined as an impairment involving both reading and writing. A key characteristic in dyslexia is difficulty identifying and processing connections in phonologic (i.e. sound-related) information.
Visual-perceptual difficulties refer to difficulties with processing or making sense of visual or spatial information in one’s mind and to create images that support action. In practice, students with visual-perceptual difficulties may find it hard to find their way in the studying environment and find teaching spaces or complete assignments that require them to identify or assemble objects or understand dimensions and patterns.
Attention deficit and hyperactivity challenges may present in tasks requiring concentration or independent study. When diagnosed, attention deficit and hyperactivity challenges are referred to as ADHD.
Autism spectrum disorder refers to a range of neurobiological developmental disorders that affect how an individual communicates and interacts with others, and they sense and experience the surrounding world. The condition is life-long, stemming from anomalous development of the central nervous system.
Mental disorders here refer to particularly to depression, but also to bipolar disorder. Of mental disorders, particularly depression is common with young adults. Students should listen to themselves and remember to reserve sufficient time for recovering from the strain of studies.
Anxiety means a state where a person feels tense, restless and worried. Short-term anxiety and nervousness or stage fright are very common and natural phenomena among students.
A panic disorder refers to recurrent panic attacks, meaning sudden, very strong experiences of anxiety. Panic attacks may be isolated events or related to general anxiety. Panic attacks are rather common: about 10 to 15 per cent of people experience one in their lifetime.
Each Aalto student has a right to receive reasonable individual study arrangements for medical reasons. A medical reason may be dyslexia, a sensory impairment, mental health condition or learning difficulty. Individual study arrangements should not be seen as a reason to stop aiming for the set learning outcomes. Instead, they are a way of supporting the student in attaining the learning outcomes.
Examples of individual study arrangements include additional time for examinations (1 hour at Aalto), a private space or computer for examinations, or adjusted schedules.
Feedback, comments and questions on the individual study arrangements toolkit
