Having a hard time focusing can leave you feeling overwhelmed. Difficulty initiating and staying on task may have you feeling as though you will not be able to catch up or accomplish the task at hand. You may be noticing that your ability to make decisions is impaired or be having a hard time paying attention to what’s going on around you. It could be that distressing thoughts may be interrupting you.  Focus and clarity may be coming in spurts. You welcome sustained periods of concentration.

Enrique is a student who is having a harder and harder time getting his work done:

“I got through high school kind of by my wits. I really didn’t have to study very hard and I could memorize some things. I would procrastinate doing papers and stuff like that until the last minute. I could get away with it. Now, I’m just overwhelmed in college. I have to plan more to get things done, but it seems like I can’t concentrate long enough to get anything done and my assignments are starting to pile up. I spend a lot of time playing video games or watching TV when I should be getting my work done. I really don’t want to drop any more classes because I can lose my financial aid.”