Anxious at the thought of group projects/interaction

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avxscott
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24 Aug 2016, 10:58 pm

To be honest, I kind of want to drop my college classes, a little bit. I'm freaked out about all the social interaction I'll have to do, like group projects and lab partners and stuff. It seems like so much, and nobody's gonna get that I'd rather do stuff by myself or that I don't really talk much, they're just gonna think I'm rude and standoffish I hate getting noticed or having a lot of attention on me, I hate being around so many people. Before this I hadn't been in any kind of public school for years, ever since middle school, which was a really bad experience that I've mostly mentally shoved into a corner and tried not to think about. I'm scared of getting harassed and bullied all over again :( I don't know what to do, I don't wanna be intimidated by my anxiety into being more of a recluse and not doing the things I wanna do, but it seems so insurmountable :(



Scorpius14
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26 Aug 2016, 1:24 pm

I dropped my uni course on the exact basis that 99% of it was group work and had to be presented to an audience of 100+ people in a lecture hall, with the knowledge that I didn't know most of what the group was doing and was afraid of asking for help. But also it was always made apparent that I prefer to work alone, but with that choice I would still have to produce presentations in the same format against the same audience and I felt presenting alone would be worse for my anxiety let alone being unable to speak a loud voice for them all to hear.

[This was a computer science/games programming degree, this will dispense with the stereotype that aspies are 'built' for IT, games development, software etc.] In turn I had been told off for not attending sessions that involved group work, we were put into groups of 5 each given a choice but ultimately it was the group leaders decision, I suggested my area of expertise was programming and 3d design, in the end my programming knowledge hit a brick wall, and 3d design is nothing more than basic skills in autodesk and sketchup.

My brain was sort of in denial about knowing what I was doing, going in optimistic about knowing I will succeed when I was just deluding myself. I was called in for a progress report with my head of department which is a rare occurrence as they have a very busy schedule, it felt like I was being sent to the office for detention. It was when we had this conversation that they talked about disclosure about my AS to lecturers and students I were dealing with at the time, I suggested just the lecturers but as time went on, they seemed to not care and said everyone deals with social anxiety at some point during university and there didn't visibly seem to be evidence of anyone else in my degree subject who I might suspect to have AS or social anxiety, everyone seemed to be happy in their situation.



ResilientBrilliance
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29 Aug 2016, 4:45 pm

I had this problem too in college. I had entire courses that were basically group projects. The worst was physics lab because not only did I have to work in a group during class, but we also turned in one assignment as a group. Which meant we had to meet up each week to work on it. I honestly feel like those types of classes were a cheap move by colleges to save money or something. College, like high school, was tough because of all the social interactions. I know that there are tons of people who are introverted but I think it's different to have AS or social anxiety and have to navigate through college. What you're experiencing is a challenge that many here have probably faced. I hope things work out for you.



xraydave
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05 Sep 2016, 6:04 am

I cant' see get out of the house at all, because i am obsessed with music and my imagination. it's weird. also classes are largely understimulating and border on the stuff that i want to really get into. not deep enough maties.

i have problems with oral presentations but did them for 2 years in my prior law degree. thank god i dont have to do that s**t again, just not good at it.