It's all about sleeping for one or two months faculties, hundreds of cold meals eaten outside the home and just as many protests, but also one serious online threat, Dragana survived during student blockades i protest.
"I received a message - you think you're very smart to block my fax?! Think again, I'm telling you in a friendly way," Dragana told "Vreme". "My legs gave out, my hands started to sweat, I was shaking all over when I read it."
She knew the sender of the message and thought that the threat was not that serious, but, she says, in the next moment, the whole thing was blocked.
"I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, I thought people would say that it was nothing terrible, but when I told my colleagues at the university, they immediately alerted everyone, including the police, then it was a lot easier for me," adds Dragana. She admits that she was thinking of consulting a psychologist.
Government pressure and fear
Young people are facing frequent physical attacks these months. The list of physical consequences to which they are exposed includes trampling by negligent and arrogant drivers during the distribution of food to the victims under the canopy in Novi Sad. SNS hooligans, unknown people with black hoods on their heads, attacked them countless times.
The authorities called them all kinds of names, and the highest state officials claimed that they were "mercenaries" and "terotists". It is not a small matter when the president of the country, ministers and the police are against you, and you are 20 years old.
"The pressure of the authorities is generally great and the first human reaction is fear," psychologist Svetlana Prokić explains to "Vreme".
"The positive circumstance is that there are many students in the blockade and this gives them the psychological strength to persevere and withstand the pressure. When we are in a stressful situation, a group that is with us, that shares that experience, means a lot because from the people around us we can often copy the mechanism by which they fight the situation."
Fear, however, is one of the first initial reactions to being threatened, and it can manifest itself in the form of psychosomatic disorders. Among them are various physical symptoms, such as sweaty hands, anxiety, pain, but also a burnout syndrome known as Burn out.
Great expectations from the young man
The students collectively said at one point "Gentlemen, it's your turn" in a text for "Vreme", referring to the rest of society.
"I think people expected too much from the students. Even though they were on their side, they often unconsciously pressured them to find a solution for the whole society themselves," says Prokić. "The students came up with a good idea and took action to take that pressure off themselves, which is a big psychological burden."
What when we feel bad?
The community always helps, and Prokić advises that those who experience nausea, dizziness, fatigue, sleep problems, headaches, chronic exhaustion - immediately seek help from friends or family.
"Each conversation removes some of the difficulties, and it's not worse to immediately talk to experts because many colleagues volunteer at colleges and provide free psychological support and help, and there are also support groups. This is a specific situation and we should not wait if we feel bad, but immediately try to ventilate," says the psychologist.
