Be Kind to Your Mind!
This image says it all: We all need to be kinder to our minds, don't be so hard on yourself! Positive self-talk is so important to our mental health-- health comes first!
Hello all, and welcome back! This week we will be talking about mental health awareness. What does it mean exactly? How do we treat it? And how do we all become our best, healthiest, and happiest selves?
This week I jumped right into learning about "generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)." As a class we are in the midst of putting together a collaborative and informative slide show about varied disorders. The more we know and can recognize these, the better we will be at guiding and helping along our future students. My findings are as shown:
- What is it? GAD is a condition of excessive worry about everyday issues and situations.
- What are the symptoms? You can experience trouble falling asleep, trembling, twitching, tense muscles, headaches, irritability, sweating, hot flashes, lightheadedness, trouble breathing, nausea, urinating often, lumps in the throat, fatigue, poor concentration, being easily startled, or the inability to relax.
- How common is this disorder? Very common (more than 3 million U.S. cases each year), and not everyone experiences the same symptoms. It does however, require a medical diagnosis and is treatable by a medical professional.
- What is treatment? Treatment may include medicine, counseling (cognitive behavioral therapy, or psychotherapy), relaxation techniques, working with a therapist to boost coping skills, and making lifestyle changes to reduce stress and avoid stimulating substances. (Hopkins Medicine, 2021)
- How can teachers help students with GAD? Teachers can implement mindfulness practices, offer extra time on homework or examinations, consider alternatives for class participation, provide cool-down spaces in the classroom for quick breaks, and work with parents and school counselors to consider their accommodations. (Brita, 2019)
Mental health is certainly not limited to GAD, though it may be among the most common disorders. This week we learned about a few stories in particular that did deal with anxiety within schools. In this week's podcast I was able to learn a great deal about a boy named Jared that has struggled throughout his whole life battling anxiety. A clinical psychologist with the National Institute of Mental Health, named Erin Berman worked closely with our youth having difficulty with these issues. She noted that, "anxiety feels no different if you're being chased by a lion or you have to go to school" (Cardoza, 2016). For Jared and many kids like him, the angst of school and any social situation can make for a life threatening and completely overcoming feeling. Around when he was thirteen, Jared was hospitalized numerous times for anxiety attacks. We can't pretend we know what he feels but we can simulate a comforting and safe environment for children like this.
Sometimes seeing the numbers broken down you can get a better sense of the vast population that are affected by mental health each year. Some credible reports are:
- 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
- 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
- 1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
- 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24 (NAMI, 2022)
Now the question lies, how do educators make a difference? How can we truly help these suffering children? Well, the answer is not so simple. It is such a tricky thing to help guide them through but there are little things we can do to make a be positive change. Everybody has a part to play in the community so in "Here's How Schools Can Support Students' Mental Health," we can learn to utilize our peers, coworkers, parents, and members of the neighborhood to help make this child feel more involved and accepted. We can also make sure that we are aware of who to contact in the case of a serious episode. First Responders are professionally trained to help navigate potentially harmful situations. Therapists are also certified in their field and can best help these children sift through their internal issues (Anderson, 2016).
In my freshman year of college, I was away at school and played on a competitive lacrosse team. I remember going through some mental struggles for a period of time between the pandemic and external stresses. I had my first and only anxiety attack and I remember it felt completely constricting and was very scary. I was at practice and the loser had to run for punishment and finish with a four minute plank hold. Following the sprints, I was already exhausted and was dreading the final plank. At about two minutes in, just over halfway through I remember my breathing start to get tight and quick, my teammates were asking if I were okay but I was stuck. I had a million and one things rushing through my mind while my body was fixed in a plank position, trembling. I recall my best friend running to get my inhaler and just how scared everyone was at the time. After a little while I managed to calm myself down trying to count back from ten, relax my body, and clear my mind. I later did more research and found that little things like chewing gum, listening to calm music, smelling lavender, and closing your eyes were quick tips that could calm me down when I started to feel flustered (Gaffney, 2022). It was better for me to calm myself down before getting to a level of panic like I did that day. Having gone through that experience, it opened my eyes up to how strong and brave these children are to face their problems and seek the help they need.
References:
Hammer, Brita. “How Teachers Can Help Students Cope with General Anxiety in the Classroom.” Edmentum Blog, 21 Oct. 2019, https://blog.edmentum.com/how-teachers-can-help-students-cope- general-anxiety-classroom.
“Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).” Johns Hopkins Medicine, 8 Aug. 2021, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/generalized-anxiety-disorder.
“Etsystatic.com.” Etsy, https://www.etsy.com/market/etsystatic.com.
Gaffney, Bridget. “How to Calm down Fast.” Baton Rouge Clinic, 8 Sept. 2022, https://batonrougeclinic.com/how-to-calm-down-fast/.
Cardoza, K. (2016). For kids, anxiety about school can feel like 'being chased by a lion'. NPREd.
Anderson, M. (2016). Here's how schools can support students' mental health. NPREd.
Hi Kelly! Thank you for sharing your experience, and I am really sorry you have experienced a panic attack. Just know you are not alone and I have had an extremely similar experience. I played lacrosse my entire life and can't remember a single season I wasn't sick. Anxiety and stress can drop your immune system. I know that all too well. In my first year of college, we were doing fall ball conditioning. Before we got timed on our mile I was hyperventilating, crying, and dry heaving because I was so overworked and nervous about the run. It felt like the weight of the world was on me for the run and it would decide my entire future. It didn't but it did shape how i moved forward. It was hard to realize i had put too much pressure on myself. I still experience panic attacks occasionally now, but i have a lot more tools to deal with my situation. One of my favorite grounding techniques is to name five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can see. It is a grounding technique you can do to bring someone back to the present moment. I also like to try and slow down my breathing and take big calming breaths. I also use this technique with kids who are overwhelmed and hyperventilating. I repeat and model to them "smell the roses," deep breath through your nose, "blow out the candles," big exhale through the mouth. It took me till I was older to be able to know what I need when my anxiety spikes, so be patient as many people dealing with anxiety may not know what they need. Every situation is going to be different, but try and stay as calm as possible and work with your students one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post and how you incorporated personal experiences. Generalized anxiety disorders are very common amongst people. I think it is important that we break the stigma when it comes to mental health and various struggles. I am very sorry reading about your experience with panic attacks. I researched panic disorder which is a type of anxiety disorder for my blog post this week. Personally, I have GAD and loved reading the statistics you included. As a future educator, I think it is important for students to understand they are not alone because when my anxiety disorder developed and became out of control in high school I felt alone. How can we accomplish this? I think as a teacher you can help students by having open communication and sharing experiences. I like how you mentioned that teachers can implement mindfulness practices and alternatives for class participation. Something that I have learned is that focusing in class by using my other senses decreases anxiousness and can prevent it from escalating to a panic attack.In addition, something many students struggle with is class presentations. Of course, there are times where students will have to power through and present an assignment but, as a teacher if a student comes to you expressing extreme distress regarding a presentation you can try to come up with an acceptable alternative. Similar to other topics we discussed regarding racism, gender diversity, and bullying, mental health affects everyone. Many people experience mental illness, two common ones being GAD and depression. As an educator, it is important to discuss mental health with students because if they are struggling they will feel safe to reach out to a trusted adult before their mental health declines further.