The month of October we are going to focus on Anxiety and Stress and how it impacts the brain. The goal is for students to grasp an understanding of the physiological and psychological affects of Anxiety and Stress to help motivate for learning of new coping skills. Anxiety is defined as: A state of apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation, often impairing physical and psychological functioning. There are typically three types of responses to Anxiety. We have the fight response, flight response, and freeze response. Can you guess what each of these responses mean? Our students in the Freeze response typically have intense worries about the future (e.g. college, professional prospects), difficulty tolerating feedback, few or no close peer relationships, Shutting down or "getting stuck" on test, and possible academic over achievement. Our students in the Fight response tend to have many panic attacks, engage in self-injurious behaviors, suicidal thinking, substance use, instability and intensity in relationships, and disordered eating. Our students in the Flight response may be late to school or have frequent absences, skip class, be involved in substance use, or avoid major projects such as college applications, essays, etc. Does this remind you of anyone? Next week the students will focus on what is going on in our brain when we have an anxious or stress producing response. Comments are closed.
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September 2019
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The Bridge Program: Burlington High School