Caitlin experienced her first panic attack during her freshman year of high school. It was shortly after she learned about the ACT and SAT. “I remember we talked about how important the score was and what it meant for college and scholarships,” Caitlin says. When she got home from school, her mind raced, leading to an overwhelming feeling of anxiety that left her breathless. “I would get home and remember being in my room all alone by myself, thinking about it.”
The attacks persisted during all four years of high school. In addition to her studies, Caitlin was captain of the varsity volleyball and basketball teams. Though she tried to manage her time appropriately, finishing homework during study periods and in her free time, Caitlin noticed near the end of her sophomore year that her grades were slipping. Her anxiety only worsened as she approached her senior year, and it began to affect her relationships. Finally she reached out to her teachers and parents. “In January, school almost killed me,” she recalls. “I felt done.”
Caitlin isn’t alone. The American Psychological Association has noted, “School is the top source of stress for teens. Getting into a good college or deciding what to do after high school is the second-biggest source of tension.”
Prue Gershman, a counselor at John Burroughs School, sees the stress firsthand. “Most of the things that kids approach us with are related to school,” says Gershman. “The next things are what’s going on in their personal lives—problems with friends and stress.”
In fact, teen stress has been on the rise. In 2013, a survey by the APA revealed that teen stress levels are higher than those of adults, with 31 percent of teenagers saying that their stress has increased in the past year. The reason? “Life is becoming more fast paced, more complicated,” says Dr. Jeffrey Rothweiler, a clinical child psychologist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “We expect more and more of our young people because the information is out there.”
Some students are able to use traditional coping methods, but other times they’re not enough. A student may require help from a school counselor or physician, so it’s important to watch for warning signs.
“Excessive worrying, feeling high-strung, withdrawing, a hunkering-down kind of stance can all be symptomatic of anxiety,” says Rothweiler. “When you notice a change in your child’s behavior and it seems persistent almost every day for at least two weeks, something has changed… Go to your doctor. It could be a lot more than just school stress, and it should never be looked down upon to say, ‘I need help.’”
Gershman and other school counselors work to address these issues with both students and parents. “We have workshops and programs where we look at the pros and cons of stress,” she says. “It’s important to work with the family and children to assess what their needs are and where they are struggling so those tense feelings can be alleviated.”
When balancing school demands and extracurricular activities, Rothweiler says, the best thing for students to do is to re-establish their priorities. “I ask parents to ask their kids, ‘What are you doing? Why are you in school? Is it to play baseball?’” he says. “When the grades are good, that’s when you can add more activities, but people need to make those priorities clear.”
For Caitlin, the stress came from all angles: from academic success, social status, her family... “My mom works full time as a waitress,” she says. “On weekends, I used to bus tables with her. She would tell me all the time how I needed to do well so I wouldn’t have to do what she did.” When balancing everything became too much to handle, Caitlin reached out to a teacher from freshman year who helped her find ways to better manage her time. “She taught me how to evaluate my priorities and to focus,” Caitlin says.
Eventually Caitlin’s panic attacks ceased as she learned to use sports as a stress reliever. By the end of her senior year, she’d learned to use a healthy amount of self-imposed stress, and it helped earn her several volleyball scholarship offers. She now views her parents’ past pressure to succeed as empowering.
“I was the first [in my family] to graduate from high school,” she says.
Now a recent grad, Caitlin has advice for other students experiencing debilitating stress.
“Calm down. Do something that keeps your mind off of it,” she says. “That’s what sports did for me.”
