As the years progress, more and more of society faces anxiety. Anxiety is a mental illness where in the body experiences a rush of adrenaline over potentially harmful or worrying triggers, which causes one’s fight or flight response to kick in. Anxiety is often ignored or not taken seriously in our society.

Freshman counselor Dawnetta Russell sees five to ten freshman a week suffering from anxiety. 

“Anxiety is caused by numerous things, from trying to balance too many things at once to a neurological disorder,” Russell said.

Senior Megan Cherry opened up about her experience with anxiety. She has suffered for 11 years with this disorder. 

“When I was little my anxiety was for getting sick, I used to be so scared of that. It would freak me out, I would be so scared of throwing up,” Cherry said.

Cherry would make herself throw up just from being afraid of getting sick. As she became older, she stopped being afraid because it did not happen as often. Cherry now does not experience any triggers, but her heart still beats rapidly and she is still experiencing anxiety.

“Medication definitely helps, but I know some people aren’t crazy about that, so some things I like to do is spend some time outside, even at night,” Cherry said. 

Senior counselor Stacy Tate also has a high number of kids with anxiety come see her.

“The number one mental health problem we see is anxiety,” Tate said.

Tate deals with social and test anxiety the most. Tate and Russell declared there are various symptoms of anxiety. Expressions of anxiety include shaking, chills, lightheadedness, rapid heart beat and nausea, according to Heathline.

Russell and Tate do have some students revisit, and most of the time, students with severe anxiety are recommended to a therapist. 

“We always have them breathe in through their nose and out through their mouth,” Tate said.

Anxiety should be taken very seriously. If you suffer from this, please go see a close counselor. Trying the coping methods listed above may help too. 

Contact Hailey Paddock at [email protected]