Anxiety Management
October 24, 2018
By WILLOW KLUCK
The Mirror reporter
What is anxiety? According to MedicalNewsToday, the American Psychological Association (APA) defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.”
Anxiety disorders affect 40 million people in the United States and are the most common group of mental illnesses in the country. It is important to know the difference between normal feelings of anxiety or an anxiety disorder that requires medical attention.
Most anxiety disorders can be classified into seven main types. According to MedicalNewsToday, the seven types are generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, phobia, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and separation anxiety disorder.
People may think they are the only one at Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH) who suffers from stress or anxiety they are wrong. Many people suffer from the same thing and have no idea how to cope with it. Here are some ways two students from SPASH deal with their anxiety.
A 15-year old female sophomore said, “I like to color, run and read when dealing with anxiety. All in all, to me, laughter is the best medicine.”
A 16-year old transgender junior said, “I fidget a lot or try to distract my mind with stimuli, like music or visual puzzle games.”
Dealing with anxiety is not always the easiest thing to do. Here are some helpful tips to manage anxiety and stress. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) has categorized the tips into three sections and each section has four or more tips.
Another place to find some tips on how to deal with stress is from Psychology Today. This website has 22 different ways to control and manage your anxiety. For example, deep-breathing is one of the first on the list.
“There are many reasons as to why someone would get anxiety. Each person has their own triggers as well. A good way to help with anxiety is deep breathing and to find your own triggers, therefore, figuring out what you can do to help.” A retired therapist Jennifer Wiser said.
Lauren Huebner • Oct 29, 2018 at 8:03 AM
Great article. I think more students need to realize they are not alone. Anxiety can be hard to live with but if you surround yourself with friends and people who will help, it makes everything easier. Also nice picture.
Soren Luther • Oct 25, 2018 at 11:15 AM
Great article. I think it is really great that you included ways to cope with these problems. So many people suffer from anxiety and it is so important to remember that you are not alone. Keep up the great work!
Hlee • Oct 25, 2018 at 11:15 AM
First of all, good job on the drawing, I loved it. I don’t know much about anxiety disorder and only knows about one of them which is PTSD so this really expanded a bit more of my knowledge about it.
Rachel Placeway • Oct 25, 2018 at 11:13 AM
I think it’s really important to address the struggles people with anxiety deal with. It will help others understand how serious anxiety can be for a person.
Justice Chukwuemeka • Oct 25, 2018 at 11:09 AM
Anxiety, Anxiety, Anxiety. Really serious matter. I like that you provided statistics and credible sources. I should check up the sites you have. Good information.
Maryann Silva • Oct 25, 2018 at 11:02 AM
I loved this article, Willow. It is a big thing within a students life. I’m glad that you wrote about this. Great job.
Aiden Price • Oct 25, 2018 at 10:59 AM
this is very true. I know a lot of people who have anxiety and I know it is a horrible thing.
Bryant VanRossem • Oct 25, 2018 at 10:41 AM
this was a great article. I think it was a great idea. Don’t know to much about anxiety but this was very informing