Should I do therapy?

Advice Wanted

I am a 19-year-old university student, and I feel like I might be doing something wrong.
Here is some background. I am originally from eastern Ukraine and moved away in 2022. Since then, I have returned home five times. A year ago, evacuation began in my hometown. All my friends, acquaintances, and relatives were forced to leave and find new homes. This affected my mental state quite significantly because when everyone around you is stressed to the point of panic, you eventually start feeling and behaving the same way.
From 2020 to 2024, I studied online—first because of COVID-19 and then because of the war. During that time, I mainly communicated with my friends online, and I did not have many friends to begin with.
When I started university and moved into a dormitory, the first two weeks were quite stressful. Everything was fine at university: I made friends and generally adapted well. However, whenever I was in the dormitory, I experienced intense anxiety and constantly complained to my parents. Sometimes I had such a strong feeling of a lump in my throat that I could barely speak.
My roommates were perfectly fine, and there was nothing specific for me to complain about. I think I was simply frightened by the realization that I was alone in a large city and did not really have anything of my own there.
After two weeks, things became easier, but mentally, I still did not feel much better.
My first year at university went relatively smoothly and without any major problems. However, when the summer holidays began, I spent the entire time at home because I did not have anyone there to spend time with. As a result, I spent almost all my time lying in bed, watching movies and videos, and playing games alone or online with friends. It was a very apathetic state: constantly criticizing yourself internally but feeling unable to do anything about it.
During my second year, my roommates changed. I lived with one guy who worked from our room and studied for his master’s degree online, so I did not have much time alone. I know that is something to be expected when living in a dormitory, but it was still difficult for me.
Then the winter examination period came, and it affected me very strongly emotionally. For example, during one exam, a teacher noticed that I had cheat notes. By the end of the day, I had developed a fever because I had become so anxious and overwhelmed that my heart rate increased significantly. At that point, I started thinking about therapy, but once the exams were over, those thoughts gradually disappeared.
The spring semester went relatively well, but I constantly had thoughts about the fact that I was already 19 and had no job, no relationship, and seemingly nothing else going for me.
The following summer was almost exactly the same as the previous one. I was occasionally distracted by traveling with my family, but most of the time, I was still lying in bed and doing nothing.
Now my third year has started, and once again, I have new roommates—this time, two guys. I cannot say anything bad about them, and the situation could certainly be much worse. However, as an only child, I find it difficult to constantly be around loud people. I would like to live alone or with a friend, but I do not have a job.
The problem is that whenever it is time to start looking for a job, I simply open YouTube instead. I will come back to that later. Once again, I have started thinking about therapy and wondering whether I am actually lazy or whether something else might be wrong.
Some additional information:
Last summer, I bought a programming course that was supposed to last ten months. The beginning of the course happened to coincide with the evacuation from my hometown, and all my excitement and motivation disappeared almost immediately. I simply did not have the energy to work on it.
I eventually stopped taking the course and had to transfer to another group. I finally completed it this summer, three months later than originally planned. However, I did not study very seriously. In fact, I barely studied at all. I completed most of the assignments using AI because I did not enjoy the work and could not force myself to do it. Meanwhile, my friends became genuinely interested in programming and now know much more than I do.
I also have a habit of repeatedly watching things I have already seen many times before: podcasts, shows, videos, and sometimes even movies. I do not know whether that is normal.
I sleep well, but when I wake up, I often feel as though I already have no energy. My appetite is good, and physically, I do not have anything specific to complain about.
I know a psychologist who has told me that I do not show obvious signs of depression. She thinks anxiety might be a possibility. However, I am afraid that even if I identify what the problem is, nothing will actually change.
Right now, my mental state is far from its best. I do almost nothing except watch something or play video games. I put a lot of pressure on myself because I have no income and no relationship. The relationship issue is a separate story, but overall, I constantly feel as though I am falling behind people my age and even people who are younger than me.
At the same time, I cannot force myself to do anything to change my situation. I think about doing one thing but end up doing something completely different. Even when I start applying for jobs or searching online for something I could learn, I immediately close everything and stop.
So, does it make sense for me to see a psychotherapist or another mental health professional? What can someone do when they constantly feel as though they are falling behind everyone around them, punish themselves mentally for it, but still feel unable to do anything?

Posted Sep 8, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC

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