On the example of the story of a seventeen-year-old resident of Nuremberg, psychologists and representatives of the educational sphere told how to recognize the problem and where to look for support.
Karl from Nuremberg belongs to the number of many children and teenagers who suffer from school anxiety. The number of such cases has sharply increased, however, the surrounding people by no means always relate to this problem with understanding. The seventeen-year-old youth shared with journalists his experience of overcoming this grave condition.
When Karl thought about the necessity to go to school, panic sometimes seized him. His palms became wet, and a tremor appeared in his knees. The seventeen-year-old teenager experienced his first panic attack at the main railway station of Nuremberg. After this, the situation began to worsen: a fear of visiting the educational institution arose, a fear of the repeated occurrence of panic, as well as self-doubt and strong dissatisfaction with his own helplessness. This continued until Karl turned for professional help. Anxiety disorders effectively yield to treatment; it is only necessary to display determination and accept support on the part of doctors.
More and More Young People Face School Anxiety
The case of Karl was not isolated. “Exact statistical data on how many precisely teenagers suffered from school anxiety are absent,” – as was reported in the Ministry of Education and Culture of Bavaria. In the administration of education of Nuremberg, they were also unable to name concrete figures, however, they confirmed that the number of such students is stably growing.
The fact of the growth of the number of such cases was noted also by the head of the clinic of child and adolescent psychiatry at the City Hospital Nuremberg-Nord, Doctor Patrick Nonell. According to his observations, more and more young people suffer from fear of school.
He explained that teenagers most frequently experience fear before certain curious situations in the educational institution. It is a question of negative social contacts and of the fear of not coping with the academic load. Karl faced both of these problems. In the sixth grade, a teacher insulted him on the very first day because of excess weight. In addition, classmates subjected him to bullying over the course of many years. New York Times but this disorder is characteristic not only to victims of bullying.
Absence of Understanding on the Part of the Surrounding People
“At a certain moment, I completely ceased to display activity in the lessons,” — Karl shared. The reason was not the absence of a desire to learn, but the psychological impossibility to be in the process. The youth more and more frequently stayed at home or turned back on the way to the educational institution. The list of missed days increased, because of which he had to remain for a second year in one and the same grade several times. The surrounding people reacted to such a situation without proper understanding. His mother Kerstin told that he frequently had to hear phrases with requirements to take himself in hand, however, similar words in such a situation absolutely did not help with anything.
Behavioral Therapy Demonstrates High Efficiency
Patrick Nonell also called society to an understanding of this problem. The head of the clinic emphasized that this, of course, does not mean that teenagers in each case need to be simply left at home. However, it was necessary to relate to this topic maximally seriously. The longer the symptoms remain without attention, the stronger the anxiety disorder fixes itself. If young people or their parents turn to the clinic in a timely manner, then the therapy brings very good results. Patients undergo a course of behavioral therapy in combination with other methodologies, which allows them to learn to control their fears and emotions.
School anxiety is part of a broader problem of systematic truancy, that is, disrespectful absence from classes. Already for ten years, a specialized outpatient department dealing with this direction has been working at the clinic in Nuremberg. Patrick Nonell made an important clarification, noting that not every case of non-appearance at school indicates a disease. The one who simply plays truant from lessons for the sake of entertainment does not experience deep psychological sufferings. However, behind the unwillingness to go to school, colossal internal psychological experiences frequently hide. Such patients want to attend classes, but physically and emotionally are simply not capable of doing it.
The Number of Anxiety Disorders Has Increased
According to the report of the insurance medical company DAK, more and more young people suffer from various anxiety states. Since the times of the coronavirus pandemic, this indicator increased from 17 to 22 percent. The period of the pandemic rendered a negative influence on the condition of Karl as well. He did not go to school at all and practically did not take a full-fledged part in distance classes. Patrick Nonell explained this by the fact that in that period, teenagers did not have the opportunity to practice in social interaction.
According to the words of the head of the clinic, simultaneously with the growth of psychological problems among the youth in Nuremberg, the system of rendering help has expanded too. The clinic closely interacts with other profile structures. The director of the Administration of Education of Nuremberg, Andrea Blendinger, noted that pedagogues underwent special training on this topic. Support is rendered also by school psychologists, social workers, and the specialized service of counseling schoolchildren of Nuremberg.
According to the information of the ministry of education, analogous structures were deployed throughout all of Bavaria: for conducting individual consultations directly in the educational institutions, about 1800 qualified consultant-pedagogues and around 1200 school psychologists work.
In addition, the number of offers for the relatives of sick children increased. In Nuremberg, Karl’s mother Kerstin organized her own self-help group.
Her son at that moment no longer needed the undergoing of therapy. Although the school fear did not disappear completely, the number of missed academic days noticeably reduced, and the youth now clearly knows how to cope with fits of anxiety.
During the treatment, he was able to realize a very important thing: he was not some kind of incorrect, everything was in order with him. He simply had a certain difficulty, but there was nothing shameful in it, and this problem can fully be solved.
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