I teach at a selective private high school. There is an extra level of pressure and competition put on these students because of the school they attend. We have a unique grading scale that makes it harder to get certain letter grades, making anything below a 70% an F. Students are very open about the pressure they feel from their parents, teachers, friends, etc. about having to reach a certain level of success. There has been a steady increase in anxiety disorders, and that's what made me interested in focusing on this for my update.

Not surprisingly, this isn't an issue that is specific to my school. 66% of college students in 2016 reported experiencing overwhelming anxiety, compared to 50% in 201, a significant increase over five years. Anxiety doesn't look the same in everyone "common symptoms include persistent feelings of dread and jumpiness, frequent panic attacks, as well as headaches, stomach problems, shortness of breath, and fatigue" (Flannery, 2018). The diagram below shows that students are identifying anxiety and depression as the largest problem facing students in their communities.

There are skills that students can be taught to help cope with intense feelings of anxiety such as breathing and meditative exercises, positive self-talk, physical exercise, talk therapy and getting more sleep. Students experiencing crippling anxiety need to have access to school counselors, however the average school counselor is assigned to 491 students. That makes it impossible for students to get the attention they need, forcing some students to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drugs and alcohol.

While there's no single thing that can be pointed at as the catalyst for significant increase in reported anxiety cases, especially with kids under 18, there are three newer situations today's population of students have to deal with. The first being an increased pressure academically. The selectiveness of college and other academic programs is increasing which is also correlated to the rise of pressure on standardized testing. A young adult can start to feel like their self-worth lies on their ability to perform academically. The second is increase of social media and presence of technology. There's a sense of connectedness that is both positive and negative. Because young kids can always see what others are doing and posting, this can negatively impact their self-worth and value. The other change we've seen in society has been the exponential rise in the number of school shootings and other acts or threats of violence in schools. Coming to a building every day where there supposed to feel safe and protected isn't always the reality because of what they see other students going through across the country. These three different worries and situations are more novel than other stresses and could be to blame for some of the number of anxiety cases that are being documented in this nation's students.

http://neatoday.org/2018/03/28/the-epidemic-of-student-anxiety/

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx