OPINION

A Stressful Situation

With stress awareness month coming up, we have a good chance to understand the hardships of those who live with stress second by second.

Sheree Murphy, Reporter|April 27, 2016

With April starting off and the third trimester in full swing, students are working to boost their grades up and the teachers are pressured to finish up all the required lessons.

Stress is sure to happen occasional to everyone, but for some it is a never ending nightmare.

“Stress is horrible. It gets in the way of everything. I feel like sometimes I miss opportunities because of it,” one anonymous student said.

He has severe anxiety, ADHD, and two types of OCD. These disorders affect his daily life from school performance to his sleep.

“Stress makes it hard or impossible to sleep and demotivates me, especially in work and school related activities. ”

Amy Kahle has seen many students with these same problems. Being a student-family adviser, she encounters students with anxiety disorders and more. When asked about what the main facts of stress where she said it varied.

“Well, you see that’s a tough question because it depends on the person but a lot of the things that contribute to it are physiological based,” said Kahle.

With many stress related disorders, the body does not function as it should and creates hormone imbalances in many cases. One example would be if a damaged adrenaline system were to fire adrenaline for no reason, it could cause panic attacks and the like. Certain versions of these can be helped with prescribed medicine. Medicine has become a very controversial topic in America based on not knowing how the symptoms are actually being solved. Many who are diagnosed but untreated tend to do poorly in school and have problems coping in social situations. On the other hand though, medications can come with side effects such as nausea, headaches, and even suicidal thought. Plus medicine cannot cure the disorder. So is it truly worth it?

“I always encourage parents to talk to their doctors and then maybe just give it a try,” Miss Kahle said.

About 1/3 of the anxiety afflicted are not treated. Yet medicine and treatment can’t even be tried if the person is unaware of their disorder. It is said that 18% of Americans are affected by these disorders, but the current estimates approximate 30% based on those who have not reached out yet and are still suffering. A many times people are not aware of the different types of disorders. For instance, OCD is a commonly unknown type of anxiety disorder. Yet people with OCD have trouble living life as well. People who deal with OCD tend to wash their hands until they are raw or become hoarders of useless stuff. Along with the people who are unaware, there are those who don’t know how to get help. Many teens will not look to the school or parents for advice since they are the top stressers in their lives. Many people are willing to help though. Just mentioning it the doctor will get them a step closer to help. Places like Psychiatric Associates of Iowa City can help along with many others that advertise in newspapers and online.

At City High, students work hard to be the school that leads and that means that every now and then stress will be the natural result. Fortunately, City High also has counselors and teachers that are prepared to assist and advise. Let this April be truly about stress awareness and helping others with stress as well.