# Does anyone feel a lack of focus when anxious or depressed



## jfk1116 (Feb 27, 2009)

Whenever I am really anxious or depressed, I find it very hard to focus on anything. Someone can be talking to me for a couple of minutes and then when it is my turn to say something, I have no idea what they just said, so I am just like "yep" or "I see what your saying". I also have a hard time reading or watching tv when very upset, I might have to read a paragraph 4 or 5 times to finally get it to stick. Anyone else get this?


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## bflygirl (Mar 13, 2009)

During anxious bouts I have trouble concentrating. One technique I use (taught to me by a therapist years ago) is the 15-minute rule. I can do anything for 15 minutes. If I want to read a book I will set my watch for 15 minutes and see how many pages I can read. Usually I end up reading much longer. If I want to go for a walk but am anxious about being outside, I'll tell myself, "go for 15 minutes" most of the time it's for longer.


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## MaidMarian (Feb 18, 2009)

Yeah, when I'm talking to someone I feel so anxious a lot of the time that my mind just goes blank and I feel like a complete idiot. My memory isn't all that good, either. It has worsened over the years, along with my anxiety/depression issues, so I'm sure there's a connection between the two.


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## nemasket (Mar 23, 2007)

I think this is one of my major symptoms with SA. I "blank out" in almost any conversation I feel nervous in, and usually just end up responding with one-work answers, praying the other person will keep talking. Even remembering names - when I feel anxious it's like my memory shuts down. I couldn't remember my own name if I needed to.

At work right now, I'm working on a project that's making me really nervous (getting names/numbers of contacts I'm eventually going to have to email and/or call) and it's so hard to focus enough to do it. And when it comes to writing emails or preparing to make a call, I feel so much anxiety that it's almost overwhelming and there's no room left in my mind to actually focus on what I'm supposed to be doing.

Anxiety steals so much energy and brain power - it's likely just that there's not much room left for anything else.


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## chelly (Mar 13, 2009)

Yea i used to love reading and writing now i can't get through a page of a book before losing focus and i can't write anymore, i just can't concentrate long enough to get ideas and put them together to write something. it sucks.


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

I can relate to most of what's be said,

The reading, vid watching, & conversing becomes much harder. Sometimes I lose track of what I'm doing. One day I was talking with my dad & began to feel my nerves, I ended up walking back & forth ni the kitchen while talking with him, I totally forgot why I was there but I knew I needed something for there


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## marie26 (Feb 4, 2008)

I can relate.

I have recently taken a job running a "classroom" type situation with a group of teenagers in a hospital setting. There are so many details to remember working in this environment. so throughout the time that I am there doing my job (which is constant socialization; enough to make you want to curl up and hide in a corner_), I am expected to remember all of these little details.

When I experience what you are all talking about, it is so bad that if I look at an analog clock and try to tell what time it is it takes me a good 10 seconds, with a long awkward pause. I find myself reading things and switching them around as if I'm dislexic. I call people by the wrong name, etc.

Its so easy to just get so angry with yourself!

The memory part too, is a problem. I feel that my anxiety has chewed a giant hole in my long and short term memory.

So frustrating.


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## fluffybunnyfeet (Feb 22, 2009)

I haven't read a book for soooo long and I used to love to read. Nowadays, I can barely make it through a newspaper article.

I put it down to what's called brain fog...which I posted about t'other day....somewhere....in secondary disorders, I think.

It's no fun, you can't think straight or at all really...just today I was out doing the grocery shopping and I couldn't work out what to buy to put meals together. My son was with me and I had to keep asking him what to get :afr


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## Biscuit (Mar 20, 2009)

I waste so much time because I can't decide what i should be doing. I will try to work on something, but my mind keeps buzzing around other places. i find that once immerses, I stay focused for a long time, but once I am unfocused, it is extremely hard to get back on track.

I think it's because anxiety makes your brain rush around all over the place, so it is very hard to stay in one place (I often feel guilty working only on one thing). With depression, I know i always feel like my brain has liquefied, at liquidy brains don't think very well. you end up just kind of swimming around, not landing anywhere, just drifting.


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## Biscuit (Mar 20, 2009)

marie26 said:


> The memory part too, is a problem. I feel that my anxiety has chewed a giant hole in my long and short term memory.


I have struggled with this so much. I am only 18, yet I have difficulty remembering things that happen more than an hour previously. I also have difficulty remembering my past. I literally remember nothing before grade 6. This is odd because sometimes my memory is really, really sharp (i am renowned in my family for recognizing obscure actors/actresses in movies )


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## Tнᶓ ᶂuturε Iѕ ɳош » (Dec 23, 2008)

Biscuit said:


> I have struggled with this so much. I am only 18, yet *I have difficulty remembering things that happen more than an hour previously. I also have difficulty remembering my past.* I literally remember nothing before grade 6. This is odd because sometimes my memory is really, really sharp (i am renowned in my family for recognizing obscure actors/actresses in movies )


Yup.


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## Collinsk (Mar 27, 2009)

I always hear half of what someone is saying to me lol
Like my mom will say "Can you put this cup up and get me a pepsi"
and i'll empty the cup out and bring it back to her with a pencil.


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## jfk1116 (Feb 27, 2009)

Collinsk said:


> I always hear half of what someone is saying to me lol
> Like my mom will say "Can you put this cup up and get me a pepsi"
> and i'll empty the cup out and bring it back to her with a pencil.


That sucks, huh? I really have to pay attention to people or its, in one ear and out the other. For me its because my mind is always on something else(anxiety related).


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## Freiheit (Dec 8, 2008)

When I'm anxious I can't concentrate on anything other than what's bothering me. Whether it be something I'm reading or doing or if someone is talking it's like i'm zoned out and nothing sticks with me.


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

In my case I'm pretty certain it's ADD, since I'm like this even when I'm not anxious or depressed.

Of course, having anxiety and depression to go along with it doesn't help.


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## staystrong12 (Mar 11, 2009)

chelly said:


> Yea i used to love reading and writing now i can't get through a page of a book before losing focus and i can't write anymore, i just can't concentrate long enough to get ideas and put them together to write something. it sucks.


ditto!


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## Kitty Cat Maniac (Apr 1, 2009)

*Yep!!*

I notice it too....I'm supposed to take meds for depression/social anxiety and when I'm off of it I definately notice that I have a lot of trouble focusing on things.
One of the more troubling episodes was when I finally had the opportunity to better myself and take an online college course. I had to quit because I just could not focus on anything I was reading, and I had to read the same sentences over and over again.
Nothing was sticking, I had so much trouble!


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## laura024 (Aug 11, 2006)

I feel it when I'm supposed to write an essay in class in 40 minutes. I start to feel anxious and can't think while everyone else is typing away. The only thing that helps is writing the essay beforehand if I'm told the prompt. I also read things over again.


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## jfk1116 (Feb 27, 2009)

Kitty Cat Maniac said:


> I notice it too....I'm supposed to take meds for depression/social anxiety and when I'm off of it I definately notice that I have a lot of trouble focusing on things.
> One of the more troubling episodes was when I finally had the opportunity to better myself and take an online college course. I had to quit because I just could not focus on anything I was reading, and I had to read the same sentences over and over again.
> Nothing was sticking, I had so much trouble!


I hate reading the same sentences over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. I try to focus but nothing-it takes me awhile to read a book, luckily I am a fast reader!!!


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## Desperate (Apr 3, 2009)

I can relate to everything you just said. I have to read 3 chapters of text in my business class(which i find boring) but my mind just keeps wondering off.. I don't know how Im going to keep my grades up when I just can't focus... Like right now, I should be doing my homework but instead I'm here procrastinating.. lol


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## jfk1116 (Feb 27, 2009)

Desperate said:


> I can relate to everything you just said. I have to read 3 chapters of text in my business class(which i find boring) but my mind just keeps wondering off.. I don't know how Im going to keep my grades up when I just can't focus... Like right now, I should be doing my homework but instead I'm here procrastinating.. lol


procrastinator!!!! just kiddin. Do your homework!!! Its fun right?


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

I'm like this. At school my exam scores slowly slipped from genius-like to moron-like.


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## KumagoroBeam (Sep 15, 2008)

oh yes. i've actually told my mom about this, that i can't concentrate, that i have trouble reading, etc. not the anxiety part though. it takes me so long to do my homework because of this.
i'm really worried about it, because i used to read whole books in one day and nowadays i feel kind of braindead. 
i don't know what to do.


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