How to help students who may feel worried, anxious, or overwhelmed. What to do and what not to do.
Signs of Anxiety
Physical Symptoms
Some of the physical symptoms one may report feeling include:
- Lightheadedness
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Feeling edgy and/or restless
- Shortness of breath
- Diarrhea
- Getting easily fatigued
Anxious Thoughts
People with anxiety often have thought patterns such as:
- Believing the worst will happen
- Persistent worry
- All-or-nothing thinking
- Overgeneralizing (making overall assumptions based on a single event)
Anxious Behaviors
Perhaps the symptoms that you’ll notice most:
- Avoidance of feared situations or events
- Seeking reassurance
- Second-guessing
- Irritability and frustration in feared situations
- Compulsive actions (like washing hands over and over)
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
How to help
- Talk to the student in a private space.
- Focus on relevant information.
- Maintain a calm, controlled demeanor and talk in a soothing manner.
- Help the student create a plan of action to address their concern(s).
- Refer the student to Centre Counseling. (859-238-5530)
What to avoid
- Overwhelming the student with too much information or complicated solutions.
- Dismissing or arguing with student’s irrational thoughts. (“You’re a good student, you have nothing to worry about.”)
- Devaluing the information or issue. (“That’s not that bad; it’s all going to work out.”)
- Making assumptions about the student’s anxiety or need for treatment.