ANXIETY AND THE SCHOOL STUDENT

information and support for family and friends of those with anxiety disorders

This material has been collated from the input of students, parents, teachers and health authorities. It is intended to be for informational purposes only and the general disclaimer of this site applies. For the sake of clarity, the use of "she" has been adopted to include both "he" and "she."

Both students and school staff may suffer from anxiety and/or panic attacks. This section deals specifically with the student. The staff is covered under the information on the workplace, which is also found on this site.

Any person suffering from a sudden onset of high anxiety or a panic attack is in distress. The natural impulse is to run to a safe place or, at least, from the present area.

At home or in a store, rapid escape to a relatively safe place is possible. The more formal situation of the school presents problems. Can a student just get up and exit? What will the other students say or think? Can the student just leave the room or the school? What is the liability of the school if a student does exit on her own? What happens if a student has a panic attack in the middle of an exam? These, and others, are questions which were discussed with various groups of people. To some, there may be no specific answer. To others, a number of suggestions or current policies are given.

It is unfortunate that several students reported they had experienced panic attacks for several months, or longer, without realizing what they were. In some cases, the parents thought they were just going through a stage, while the school believed them to be making it up and disciplined them accordingly. On the other hand, other schools realized there was a problem and, working with the parents, identified it.

Once the problem has been identified, the question of how to handle it comes to the forefront. Various schools have handled it in different ways. Generally, the following procedure was used. The student was allowed to leave the room or remain in it, depending upon how she felt. She may have felt comfortable just being quiet at her desk, going to a quiet part of the room or leaving the room. If the student left the room, she could do so without obtaining permission but was required to proceed immediately to a place which she had identified as feeling "safe" to her. The safe place was usually where an adult was always present such as the office, the medical room or the custodial office.

Rules for actually leaving the premises differed considerably. Some school policies prevented this while others had made arrangements with the parents to take the student home even if the house was empty. Only in very severe cases was it necessary to take the student home. Normally she could rest for awhile, then return to the classroom.

What to tell the other students differed considerably from school-to-school and grade-to-grade. After consultation with the parents, some schools told the class about the disease and stressed it was just like any other illness. Other schools left it to the student to tell her classmates. In most cases, it was found that the classmates were very supportive and did what they could to help. In a very few cases it resulted in some teasing, which only added to the burden.

Testing procedures also varied from school to school. Some allowed the student to write exams in a quiet room and some even went so far as to call a "time out" on the exam if the student began feeling stressed out. Other schools felt that since no special considerations were given to students with other illnesses, none should be given in this case.

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