One of the most common mental illness’ affecting the world is Anxiety Disorders. A total of 58,951,700 U.S. citizens are diagnosed with anxiety ages 18 or older and those people could be family members or close friends. Our high school has an abundance of kids that struggle with these disorders each day, according to a survey taken by a sample of SWHS students from all grades. A fifth of those surveyed said they were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder
“People often put it off saying they can deal with it alone and they say that they can handle it,” said Jessica Wahlgreen, a sophomore at SWHS. “When deep down they know that they need help. Some adults and children may not know how to ask for help or how to get help. Money can also be a big factor in that; some families may not have enough money to get professional help or get the help they need.”
In the survey, students of SWHS from all grades were asked about anxiety disorders. It was found that 20.8 percent have been diagnosed with a certain type of Anxiety, but 79.2 percent haven’t experienced any symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Childhood trauma and school are two main causes of anxiety disorders, according to the survey, but anything could give people anxiety disorders. The survey says that 69.1 percent of kids in the school have said that both school and childhood trauma cause kids to get anxiety disorders equally.
“I think school can be connected with childhood trauma. Kids come to school while also having childhood trauma and that just stacks on with the struggles of school and having a social life. It makes it harder for them,” said Zabarauskas, an English teacher at SWHS.
Anxiety Disorders affect 18.1 percent of the U.S. population according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America(ADAA), and only 36.9 percent of those people decide to receive treatment. People who have been diagnosed are six times more likely to receive treatment than people who haven’t been diagnosed, but people with certain types of anxiety disorders don’t receive treatment for a long time.
As stated by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America(ADAA), kids between the ages of 13 and 18 (25.1 percent) are affected by Anxiety Disorders. They say that kids who are untreated have a higher risk of performing poorly in school, abusing drugs and alcohol and missing out on social experiences. They have also said that anxiety in adults is as common as it is in children. Generalized Anxiety disorder is most common with adults.
“Growing up with anxiety is really difficult. You have to deal with the hallways at school, school assemblies, crowded stores. You have to accept everyday situations that can give you anxiety. Anything can trigger it,” said Wahlgren. “You might have to spend your lunches with the nurse or you might have to get removed from assemblies. Anxiety affects your everyday life. Although students might have to face more anxiety filled situations than adults, I still believe having anxiety can have the same effects on your everyday life,”
Some people don’t have many people to talk to because some just can’t relate to how they are feeling or dealing with their anxiety and teachers or other students and sometimes their parents aren’t really trained for this kind of situations. They try to find someone who they are comfortable talking to and sometimes that can be anyone, sometimes some kids or adults are too nervous or scared to open up and it can be a lot to take in.
“Seek professional help,” said Zabarauskas. “Everyone has a different level of anxiety and I think they should go talk to a doctor or a therapist. I feel like if I were to give them help it wouldn’t be good because I don’t know about this kind of stuff,”
There are a lot of anxiety disorders that exist, but the most common ones that kids have said they have according to the survey is Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder or Depression, which isn’t an anxiety disorder, but usually if you are diagnosed with depression you also are found to have an anxiety disorder. These anxiety disorders can affect your everyday life and students have to deal with that while also trying to focus on school.
“Having anxiety interferes with my school life and social life equally. I’ll be sitting in class and suddenly I’ll have a panic attack and freak out over nothing, missing out on school work and the lesson,” said Wahlgren. “I’ll be sitting with my friends in an assembly and it will be crowded and I’ll have to leave instead of having fun and talking with my friends. I wish it didn’t affect my academic life and much, but you get what you get.”
Going to school while anxious most of the time can interfere with a person’s learning ability or sense to focus. Anxiety affects many Americans every year and it’s becoming a bigger problem.