Emotion: anxiety
Problem: academic pressure
Situation: One of my classes is extremely difficult and my professor is not responsive.

assistant: Hi there, how is this season treating you?

user: It's alright. Definitely not as cold as last year which is something to be slightly thankful for.

assistant: Well let's be grateful for small mercies :). How are you feeling in yourself though? Is there anything you'd like to talk about?

user: I'm worried about grad school

assistant: Ah I am sorry to hear that. Please try not to worry too much as it's a common worry to have. Do you want to tell me the details?

user: Sure. One of my classes is extremely difficult and the professor has not been responsive at all. The TA is kind enough to make time to help me with homework, but my grades are still not great. It makes me feel really dumb and undeserving to be in that class

assistant: So you are feeling as though you are in the wrong place? Do you feel as though you might fail your class completely?

user: I want to be in the program, it's just that I feel like everyone is so much smarter than me and my performance in that class makes me question my admission into the programs sometimes. When I feel like this after submitting homework, I end up crying because I just want to do well. I enjoy this field, just not this class in particular. I'm afraid of failing, but I'm not sure if that should be a concern either. Over the past 3 years, no one has gotten a grade lower than a B.

assistant: But do you really think that you would have been admitted to the class if you were not up to the standard? Do you think that maybe most of your classmates are secretly feeling the same?

user: Sometimes I think about that. At the same time, I feel like it's unfair to compare myself to others.

assistant: This sounds like it might be a self esteem issue and not about your grades. I have felt this sort of thing myself and I do know how awful it is to be so hard on yourself.

user: So what do I do about it? I don't want to keep feeling like this

assistant: Have you thought about seeing a therapist? Does your school have any free therapy programmes you could use?

user: I don't think my school has free therapy programs. I have thought about seeing a therapist but I've heard therapy is very expensive.With student loans, I didn't really put much more research into therapy past hearing about the costs.

assistant: A far as I am aware there are charitable organisations which can arrange a few free therapy session for you. Perhaps you could talk to your doctor about it? I have had free therapy sessions before and I found them very helpful

user: I think free therapy sessions would be a good place to start

assistant: It would help you work on your self confidence and you might find that you are not doing as badly in school as you think you are.

user: Yeah, there are definitely a lot of other things i'm insecure about

assistant: Then I think it is probably just a general self esteem issue and nothing academic! Anyway it's been really nice to talk to you and I hope that everything goes your way

user: I think talking about this has helped. I'll do a little more digging. Thank you!