Wednesday, December 18, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tools for coping with anxiety in youth
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
Anxiety is a major part of
life for many young people,
including many in Sisters.
A screening of the docu-
mentary <Angst= on Monday,
December 9, at Sisters Middle
School was part of an out-
reach to parents and commu-
nity members by the Sisters
School District.
The focus in Angst, an
IndieFlix Original, cen-
ters on defining anxiety and
exploring its impact on youth
while also providing practical
information on how to learn
to cope with and live with
this sometimes debilitating
condition.
According to its website,
the producers of Angst state
their goal <is to help people
identify and understand the
symptoms of anxiety and
encourage them to reach out
for help. The film and cor-
responding materials provide
tools, resources and above all,
hope.=
Many recent medical and
mental-health studies indi-
cate that anxiety levels among
American youth are on the
rise. While Angst does not
grapple with the reasons for
this change, it does help view-
ers better understand both the
prevalence and the reality of
the condition.
While some anxiety is nor-
mal and natural for all human
beings, some people experi-
ence it at debilitating levels,
and, as with many mental-
health challenges, anxiety is
often not only misunderstood,
but dismissed by friends, fam-
ily and even by the sufferer
themselves.
One person in the
documentary put it this way:
<Health issues above the
shoulders are frequently
misunderstood.=
Anxiety can be experi-
enced on a scale from mild
to severe. At the severe end,
anxiety and <panic attacks=
are described by young people
as being downright paralyz-
ing and terrifying. Parents are
often frightened by what their
children are experiencing but
don9t know how to respond.
Many of the youth featured
in the documentary expressed
how confusing dealing with
anxiety was for them and their
parents before they found
help.
One of the classic symp-
toms of anxiety is for the suf-
ferer to begin to avoid those
things that trigger overwhelm-
ing stress. They may stop
performing in music, play-
ing sports or even coming to
school. This avoidance only
makes matters worse.
One of the speakers in
Angst said that if kids stop
coming to school they get
even more stressed because
they know they are falling
behind, making it vital for
them to learn effective cop-
ing strategies so they can stay
involved where they are.
According to the film, a
common response to anxiety
occurring in the school set-
ting is for the student to want
to call a parent and flee the
school for the rest of the day
or even longer. Though dif-
ficult, a more effective and
empowering response is to
instead find a way to take a
short break and employ some
<reset= strategies in order to
carry on.
Sisters Middle School
counselor Brook Jackson,
who helped host the screening
along with principal Alison
Haney, explained that students
throughout the middle school
will view the documentary in
order to help everyone bet-
ter understand the issue. In
that way, anxiety sufferers
can learn they are not alone
and that help is available. In
addition, students and school
staff can be better equipped
to understand, and hopefully
support, one another.
<We have a commitment
to weave social/emotional
health and well-being into our
daily lives here at the middle
school,= he said.
One of the key takeaways
from the documentary is how
important it is for students to
find people who understand
what they are experiencing.
Students in the documen-
tary said that prior to finding
support they felt <weak= and
were filled with self-doubt.
Two of the young people in
Angst developed other disor-
ders such as tics and obses-
sive-compulsive disorder
(OCD) that were very notice-
able to others, making it very
socially difficult for them.
Both eventually developed
coping mechanisms that have
helped.
At the school level, school
See ANXIETY on page 28
21
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