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Jose Ortega

Professor Grace Apiafi

Health Education 044

12/09/2018

Project 3: Case Study Analysis Final Submission

Katya is a freshman who suffers from test anxiety, she is currently working with a 3.0

grade point average, and always makes time to study but she has a difficult time believing that

her hard work will change the results of her upcoming chemistry exam. The end of her school

semester is close and there is a scholarship on the line. The pressure of knowing that if she does

not do well on her exam is weighing heavy on her, as a result she is has experienced a panic

attack, and severe test anxiety. Fortunately, there are different techniques Katya can practice to

help reduce her anxiety, and prevent panic attacks.

Like Katya, I have experienced panic attacks and anxiety. The first time I experienced a

panic attack was not over an exam, it was over money, which I found out affect a lot of people.

When I had the panic attack it was right after I had lost my job, and my wife was working part

time. It was a very stressful time, and thinking about utility bills, and a car payment threw me

into a tailspin that caused a panic attack. I felt like I could not catch my breathe and heart

palpitations, I immediately thought I was having heart issues and that made me panic even more.

After my anxiety/panic attack passed I saw a doctor and It was determined that it was a panic

attack and not a heart attack, there was some relief, but I still did not want to experience another

episode. To this day I still have some issues with anxiety, when it come to school, I do

experience a little bit of anxiety and there are different methods I practice that helped me with
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my past issue and it helps with any stress I have about testing, presentations, or meeting a

deadline for school.

In the article, Effects of a Mindfulness Program on Stress, Anxiety and Depression in

University Students, by the Cambridge University Press, authors Jose Gallego, Jose M Aguilar-

Parra, Adolfo J. Cangas, Alvaro I. Langer, and Israel Manas, say that, “High levels of stress can

cause different alterations in students, such as deficits in attention and concentration, difficulty

memorizing and solving problems, low productivity, and poor academic performance”, therefore,

reducing stress would be optimal to have better results academically. The way in which they

recommend reducing stress is by practicing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Mindfulness is a practice where you focus on one thing in the moment of stress, you focus on

every breathe you take, every step you walk, and on the sounds and sights you encounter. Katya

would benefit from this practice because this is a way to snap out of the stress she is

experiencing, and hopefully prevent a panic attack. Another recommendation that I would give

Katya is to learn about and to practice breathing techniques for stress reduction. A panic attack

can cause hyperventilation and changing the rate of the breath can reduce anxiety levels. There

are two things to keep “in mind. First, our breathing is dictated in part by our current thoughts, so

make sure you also work on changing your negative thoughts” (www.anxieties.com). Not only

does Katya need to reduce her anxiety but she also needs to change her thoughts about her

studying not changing the results of her exam. The steps www.anxieties.com recommends is

that Katya needs to, 1. sit comfortably, 2. take a long deep breath and exhale it slowly while

saying the word "relax" silently, 3. close your eyes, 4. let yourself take ten natural easy breaths,

5. count down with each exhale, starting with "ten", 6. this time while you are breathing

comfortably notice any tensions, perhaps in your jaw or forehead or stomach. Imagine those
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tensions loosening, 7. When you reach "one," open your eyes again. This technique works well

with mindfulness.

Having anxiety/stress is a serious condition that can raise blood pressure and it can affect

us in many ways if it is not treated. Fortunately, there are many different techniques that we can

practice, if the two techniques I recommended for Katya do not work for her, she can find other

ways that she feels will suit her better to reduce her anxiety, and hopefully prevent panic attacks

from happening again. For me mindfulness and controlled breathing have been life changing.
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Citations

Gallego, J., Aguilar-Parra, J. M., Cangas, A. J., Langer, Á I., & Mañas, I. (2014). Effect of a
Mindfulness Program on Stress, Anxiety and Depression in University Students. Spanish Journal
of Psychology, 17. doi:10.1017/sjp.2014.102

Anxieties.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.anxieties.com/