Fear of authority figures: difficulty approaching instructors or TAs.

Interacting with others: difficulty getting along, fitting in, contributing to group work, and reading social cues.

Inability to participate in multi-task work.

Handling time pressures and multiple tasks: difficulty managing assignments, prioritizing tasks, and meeting deadlines.

Maintaining stamina: difficulty sustaining enough energy to spend a whole day on campus attending classes combating drowsiness due to medications.

Sustaining concentration: restlessness, shortened attention span, distraction, and difficulty understanding or remembering verbal directions.

Limited ability to tolerate noise and crowds.

Screening out environmental stimuli: an inability to block out sounds, sights, or odors that interfere with focusing on tasks.

Difficulty with medication side effects: side-effects of psychiatric medications that affect academic performance include drowsiness, fatigue, dry mouth and thirst, blurred vision, hand tremors, slowed response time, and difficulty initiating interpersonal contact.

The following functional limitations related to psychiatric disabilities may affect academic performance and may require accommodations (Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 1997). Specific anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, social and specific phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms may be in response to real or imagined fears. Anxiety symptoms can disrupt a person's ability to concentrate and focus on tasks at hand. These are mood disorders in which the individual responds to thoughts, situations, environments, or people with fear and anxiety. Schizophrenic individuals typically demonstrate concrete thought processing and appreciate structure and routines.Īnxiety disorders. This is a mental disorder that can cause a person to experience difficulty with activities of daily living and possibly delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia. They may experience mood fluctuations, insecurities and mistrust, distortion of perceptions, dissociations, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and limited coping skills.

Individuals diagnosed with BPD may have experienced childhood abuse and family dysfunction. This diagnosis has both biological and environmental determinants. In the depressed phase, the person would experience the symptoms of depression (see above).īorderline personality disorder (BPD). BPD is a personality disorder which includes both mood disorder and thought disorder symptoms. In the manic phase, a person might experience inflated self-esteem, high work and creative productivity, and decreased need to sleep. Major depression may be characterized by a depressed mood most of each day, a lack of pleasure in previously enjoyed activities, thoughts of suicide, insomnia, and consistent feelings of worthlessness or guilt.īipolar affective disorder (BAD, previously called manic depressive disorder). BAD is a mood disorder with revolving periods of mania and depression. This is a mood disorder that can begin at any age. denial of obvious problems and a strong resistance to offers of helpĪ student with a mental illness may have one or more of the following psychiatric diagnoses (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).ĭepression.

difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering things.

confused or disorganized thinking strange or grandiose ideas.

heightened anxieties, fears, suspicions, or blaming others.

However, students with mental illness may experience symptoms that interfere with their educational goals and that create a 'psychiatric disability.' These symptoms may include, yet are not limited to: It can result in a substantially diminished capacity to cope with the demands of daily life.Ī mental illness is a hidden disability it is rarely apparent to others. 'Mental illness' refers to the collection of all diagnosable mental disorders causing severe disturbances in thinking, feeling, relating, and functional behaviors. The presence of students with disabilities also contributes to the diversity of the student population. Providing effective accommodations allows students equal access to academic courses and activities. Students with psychiatric disabilities are entitled to reasonable academic accommodations as provided by the American Disabilities Act (ADA) of 19 amendments. Recent increases in the size of this group are due in part to improved medications that result in symptoms mild enough for them to enjoy the benefits and meet the challenges of postsecondary education. Tens of thousands of students enrolled in American postsecondary institutions report having a mental illness.

Achieving equal access through accommodations and universal design

504 accommodation plan for anxiety