anxiety in high school students

Anxiety Disorders in High School Students

A high school student sits at his desk, paper in hand, as his friend tries to comfort him. The task is simple; go up and ask the teacher for her opinion on his story. Yet fear paralyzes him and he can’t move because the mere thought of doing something so simple causes his hands to tremble and his heart rate to rise. This student suffers from severe anxiety disorder, and he forgot to take his medication that day.
Many people associate panic attacks anxiety with someone “freaking out,” or overreacting over a certain situation. While plenty of students experience nerves and become anxious, numerous suffer from something much more serious.
Anxiety is linked to stress and can often actually help people accomplish tasks. Anxiety disorder, however, is a much bigger problem. There are many disorders under anxiety, including: severe anxiety disorder, depression, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and specific phobias. One of the most common, though, is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
“I feel like a lot of people have some sort of disorder, especially in the past few years,” sophomore Anna Telesco says. “I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the technology we have or if it’s some birth defect, but yeah… I know a lot of kids with anxiety. I have it, even right now. I can’t answer questions on the spot.” When told that anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older (18% of U.S. population), she said she was not surprised, before asking if she could leave.
But what about in adolescents? One out of eight children suffer from childhood anxiety disorders, and it can follow them into their adult lives. Disorders like this can be passed down in families, and might not be evident until a later stage in one’s life. A high school student’s GAD, however, reared its head early on. Her social life had been heavily affected by it, until she started taking medication. “Before I took Celexa I worried about everything. I still worry now, but it’s not as bad. An example is with my boyfriend; if he didn’t message me back in an hour or less I’d start getting emotional about it, but now if he doesn’t message me for days I’ll be fine, so that’s different.”
The student, a junior, says her parents don’t really understand her GAD. “My parents think I’m just freaking out, but they did get me medication. I think they understand that I have it, just not how it makes me feel,” she explains. “It’s a good thing they got me the medication, though. It has helped somewhat with school, but anxiety doesn’t really disappear. It’s better now, I don’t stress as much as I did over my school work. When I didn’t take any medication, if I started stressing too much about my homework I would eventually just give up on it.” She goes on to say that despite letting it go, she would continue thinking about it constantly until she finally figured out what she needed to do.
Generalized anxiety disorder is closely related to panic disorder. Luke Coan, a sophomore at Milford High School, has had panic attacks in the past. He’s not sure if it’s a disorder or not. “Some panic attacks were triggered by my anxiety, life changing events, or just fights with friends," he said. "Even something as small as misspeaking, I’d freak out over it for hours and the scene would replay in my head constantly until I saw whoever I was speaking to and they didn’t act any differently. I’m not sure if that counts as a panic attack or just anxiety, but.. yeah. It’s usually bad. It’s hard holding conversations sometimes because of it.”
A small online survey of 50 teenagers who have had panic attacks in the past was conducted: “how to deal with someone if they have a panic attack.” These teenagers drew tips from personal experience:

Remove the person who is having a panic attack from the situation which has caused it.
Ask them about what they want you to do and listen to them.
Make sure they breathe with their diaphragm and not their chest (stomach needs to go out, shoulders should not go up with their chest; it can cause them to hyperventilate).
Stay calm and understanding. Do not blame them or yell at them.
Fetch them something cool, like water or an ice pack.
Do not touch them without permission.

Karen Kerr, a social worker at Milford High School, deals with students with anxiety on a weekly basis. “A lot of students suffer from it, and it’s a very real thing," she says. "Sometimes it’s short term, or in response to a crisis. Often times it’s a chronic problem. If it’s interfering with daily life functions, then it’s important to get help.” Kerr says therapy should be the first choice, but in severe cases medication can be helpful.
“I feel like most parents do recognize the need for treatment, and will get help for their child, but for those who may not, we try to help them understand the impact on the student, on their grades and school performance, relationships, and general wellbeing. We recommend treatment and how to deal with anxiety overall,” Kerr explains. “A lot of students suffer from it, and the economy doesn’t help; it causes it for the families. When parents start stressing, it affects the entire household. Students start worrying about the future, ‘will I be successful, is there room out there for me to have a career?’ There’s increased standards for them.”
Students who suffer from anxiety usually have more than one of the disorders related to it, including depression. Depression is both situational, sometimes resulting from a recent life event (i.e. relationships, deaths, family financial problems, etc.) and hereditary. It can result in self harming and thoughts of suicide. Rachel Harding, a 21 year old mother of two, suffers from depression, along with other disorders. “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety run in my family, but especially the OCD.” Rachel has trichotillomania, an uncontrollable itch to pull her hair out.
“I’ve had trichotillomania since I was five years old. In fourth grade it got much worse after a traumatic event happened, so I started pulling, and I have not had any hair since then. In school I would be so full of anxiety that I had very few friends, I could not relate to anyone, I sweated profusely and cried often. It was often hard to breathe when I walked into the classroom or through the hallway. It was made worse when others would pick on me for wearing a bandana or hat.” Her depression stemmed from this disorder, as a result of the bullying and lack of acceptance. Rachel started self-harming, or cutting, an activity that is common amongst teenagers suffering from depression. “It was either that or pull out my hair, but it ended up being both. I pull out my hair for hours on end and cannot control it,” she says. “It has severely affected my life not only in school but in every aspect of my life. I have depression because of it, very low self esteem and it’s a never ending circle of anxiety which causes me to pull more and more.
“My family supports me, though, which is important. My grandma had severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and so my mom understands, especially since all three of her daughters suffer from some form of anxiety and depression, and her son has ADHD. The only thing, though, is that my son now pulls on his hair and bites his nails when he is stressed and he’s not even three yet! I was afraid that he would get something like it, and I’m still hoping he won’t.” Rachel, despite her disorder, is married and raising two kids. She has a constant change of wigs and is still trying to stop pulling. “I’m better now that I’m out of school, but I still relapse. I work from home, because I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I’ve noticed that those with anxiety or something like it are smarter, and usually have higher IQ’s, because they think differently from others. The reason they have anxiety is because they see the truth and so many people think they’re wrong.”
Anxiety can develop over time as a result of certain life events, be passed down in families, or be entirely situational. Support, understanding and self-awareness are the key factors in dealing with anyone with a disorder.

The following websites are helpful for the different aspects of anxiety disorder:

What is anxiety?
Panic Attacks and Panic Disorders
Anxiety in Children and Teens
List of Anxiety Disorders
Understanding Cutting and Self-Harm
Help Your Child Manage Traumatic Events
Understanding Bipolar Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Trichotillomania Learning Center
When ADHD and Anxiety Occur Together
Medication and Treatment

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