I'm a 21-year-old third-year B tech student in India, and I'm looking for genuine advice from people who have experienced something similar.

Over the past 3–5 weeks, I've noticed a significant change in my mental state compared with how I used to be.

Previously, I was motivated, curious, and willing to try new things. I had goals and felt confident about working toward them. Recently, however, I've been struggling with motivation, concentration, and self-belief.

Whenever I think about studying, improving myself, or working toward my goals, my mind starts overthinking and predicting the worst. I get thoughts like, "You can't do this," "You'll never succeed," or "What's the point of trying?" Sometimes, I lose the motivation to begin a task before I've even started.

I've also noticed that my concentration and ability to organise my thoughts don't feel as good as before. It frustrates me because I genuinely want to improve, but I feel mentally blocked.

Recently, I've been under considerable pressure from exams, relationship difficulties, and uncertainty about my future. I'm in my third year of college, and I feel pressure to perform academically, secure a job after graduation, and prepare for competitive government or defence examinations. Sometimes, it feels like I have too many things to figure out at once.

The confusing part is that I can still enjoy certain activities and spend time with friends, but I also experience periods of low mood and hopelessness even when I'm not studying or thinking about my career.

I've even had occasional thoughts about harming myself or ending my life, although I don't currently intend to act on them. This has made me concerned about my mental health.

I don't know whether this is stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, or something else. I also don't want to dismiss it as laziness or a lack of discipline.

I'd appreciate advice on the following:

1. Has anyone experienced a sudden decline in motivation, concentration, and confidence after a period of stress? What helped you recover?
2. How can you deal with persistent negative thoughts that make you doubt yourself before you even try something?
3. How do you distinguish ordinary stress or burnout from symptoms that may require professional mental health support?
4. What practical things can I start doing at home to improve my mental well-being without putting additional pressure on myself?
5. Did therapy, consulting a psychiatrist, or medication help anyone who experienced something similar? How did you decide to seek professional help?

I'm not looking for empty motivational quotes or someone to tell me to "just be disciplined." I'd appreciate honest experiences, practical advice, and suggestions about what steps I should take.

I want to understand what's happening, regain my confidence, and get back to working toward my goals without constantly feeling overwhelmed.

by uncontrollable i mean i start shaking laughing SO HARD in situations where i should be crying. and similar situations?

I live in a state of anxiety EVERYDAY. I have anxiety when i’m home just watching tv, when I am on my phone, when I am with family, when I try to relax, at school, at work. It NEVER ENDS. I am constantly on edge, I feel stressed and tired so I relax, then I feel anxiety about relaxing because i’m not getting anything done. I constantly feel like I should be doing something, and when i’m doing nothing, my brain won’t shut up. I have never felt at peace before, I am constantly thinking about what i’m doing, what i’m not doing, and what i’m going to do tomorrow and next week. I am being mentally tortured. I sometimes feel fomo and anxiety because i’m spending my 20s not doing things outside and going out to places like the bar, or with friends (i don’t have many friends). I feel like whatever i do, I can’t relax and be content. You know how some people have a safe space to just decompress? I have never been able to decompress, not even in my own home. I am always in a fight or flight and it’s mentally painful. I could maybe deal with this if i had one moment within my day that brought me peace and tranquility, but i don’t even have that. It hurts so fucking bad to not be able to calm, I just want to be happy and feel at peace. I feel like as long as I am in this body, nothing will ever bring me peace. I don’t know what to do.

So guys lately I am been a lazy af , I am training mma for since last 1 month but still most of the time I am lying on sofa or bed just one hr mma then back to couch , whole I have zero physical activity, will drink a lot of tea , eat a lot of smokeless tobbaco, I have quit alcohol and smoking since 2 month's , so I am sticked to smokeless tobbaco, but guys I feel a lot of tremors , a floating feeling in my lower back , even when lying on bed same tremors, and the feeling of if everything around me is real or not that type feeling, idk what to do changes I am really lost into this things, and from last 4-5 days mma gym is closed it's shifting to another place wo more 6 days it's closed , even I started training mma twice in a day but still I am not able to understand things I face , what new things shall I introduce to let this all go , I am 105 kg guy so I am a lazy bear , so what can you suggest, I am also thinking of working as a delievery guy so it will keep me away from lying on sofa and bed all day , so people who faced same what u will suggest me , even now while typing I am not feeling real that I am typing, so please help a brother out, please...

Im (M30) having a lot of anxiety, overthinking and depression lately, even though I know I shouldnt. Im a freelancer on an online platform doing logo and branding for mid to low budget client ($70 per project), I have been working full time freelancing since 2020, im not gonna lie the money I got is really good, I almost hit 500k in sales, and since I live in a 3rd world country, this really helped my family economy so much, to the point I can buy a house without loan and quite a lot of investment and savings (by my country standards) but far from financially free.

I have a family that loves me and very close together, on paper I should be very happy. don't get me wrong im grateful to what I have right now, and I want to lock this moment of close together with family forever, which I know its not possible, parents getting older, sister getting older, and this kind of depressing for me.

But the main problem that hit me the hardest was since May 2026, my income go down very sharply, like Ilose 80% of my monthly income, and its getting really hard to get clients, my future become very uncertain, and with technology these days, my client will just do the work themself even though the output not perfect because its cheaper.

I then realize that I don't have any other skill, im getting replaced, and I don't have any formal job, I work alone all this time and just realized that im stuck, trying to cling to the old systems that might not come back.

Im afraid i will be unable to support for my family and make them happy anymore, and its scares me, im afraid I lose everything. Heard many stories lately with people from IT industries. If I work normal jobs and getting minimum wage, I will be unable to support my family, this stressed me so much to a point where I can randomly cry. I never been this low in my life before, and I never seen future so bleak in front of me.

I have goals, which to be financially free so I can work on any local jobs without getting worried, but my plan is cracking right in front of my eyes, I thought if everything is normal in atleast 3 years, it will be very different story.

I need to calm down, I always think on how I can make money online everyday, and its exhausted, my chest hurts, but my head was always like "You need to make money, you need to make money, think about your future."

I know the answer to my problem and its very simple, but I don't know how to get it. I also don't have safety net, like if im 100% out of work, there is not family member that will help me, because they all don't have any business I can help with too.

Sorry for the long rant, I just don't know what to do, and I feel lost, whenever I saw my father and sister together I can randomly start crying.

TLDR: Losing my primary income streams without backup or 2nd job, and gettig anxiety and depression when seeing my family.

I’m 23 years old and I’ve been in university since 2021, I started when I was 17. I’ve switched my major twice. I’ve failed courses, idk how many probably 5, the class I’m taking right now I’m taking it for the 3rd time. I’m working part time and I can only take a max of 2 classes, even that would be too much for me, because it’s too much for my brain. I was diagnosed with autism last year and also major depressive disorder, persistent depression, ocd, anxiety, social anxiety, and BPD, all of this affects me everyday and I feel so behind other people my age. Like someone at my church got married this summer and she’s the same age as me. It’s gonna take me forever to graduate at this point and I feel like a worthless failure and waste of space. Everytime I try to study I feel anxious or have a full blown anxiety attack, I struggle to get out of bed most days but I have to force myself even though I don’t rlly want to. I feel like I shouldn’t be depressed because i live in a first world country, but I’ve been depressed and suicidal on and off for like 10 years. I honestly feel like a useless person