Leon 1

Alexsis Leon

Professor Knott-Silva

Health Education

11/12/2019

Case Study Analysis

Katya is a freshman in college with really good grades. Katya strives for success but

suffers from anxiety because she believes no matter how hard she studies it won't make a

difference in her exams and her academics. She is nearing the end of her first college semester

and she has one more exam left. She fears that she will lose her scholarship if she fails her

upcoming exams. By constantly thinking about this she ends up having a panic attack days

before her exam date. I think every college student suffers from “school anxiety” because

everyone wants good grades but not everyone can achieve this. I can personally say I suffer from

school anxiety till this day. When I first started college I was taking 5 classes. The workload was

very heavy I was burning myself out. I told myself that this is not healthy for my mental health.

At one point in the semester I had to drop 2 classes just so I can catch up on my other classes.

One thing that helped me out with studying was with flash cards. I would study for 30 minutes to

45 minutes straight and then take a 15 minute break. This has improved my self esteem because I

was able to retain the information unlike when everything is thrown at you at once.

Katya can control her anxiety by evaluating if on campus classes are better for her or if

online classes are better for her. Also taking her classes at a pace that does not stress her out can

be very helpful as well. If that means dropping one or two classes then so be it. She can do her

assignments one baby step at a time so it's not a heavy load at once. She can improve her self by
 Leon 2

taking time for self care as well; She can also deal with her anxiety by engaging in yoga and

relaxing her mind and inner self. Some may find it silly but it can definitely help her ease the

stress and improve her self-esteem. She can write her goals every beginning of the semester and

look at them periodically. Everyone handles their stress differently; I personally wouldn't seek

professional help because I would rather talk to someone close to me than a stranger. I would tell

Katya to try professional help to see if it would help her because like I mentioned everyone deals

with their stress and anxiety differently. A few ways to decrease anxiety is to surround yourself

with optimistic people. Surround yourself with people who want to succeed and want to become

something in life. Also breaking down your fears can help decrease anxiety. Understanding your

fear and gaining information about your fear can actually play a huge role in overcoming your

fear. A couple of good ways to form a realistic expectation before a school semester starts is

asking yourself can I really handle this many classes. Another way is to go on the famous

ratemyprofessor.com website and look up your professor. This can play a huge role on how your

class will be meaning if the professor seems easy you won't have that much stress. Writing down

your goals and keeping them in from of your notebook to remind yourself what goals you have

for the class you are taking.

In conclusion after doing research on how to decrease anxiety and deal with school stress

it gave me methods to handle my anxiety and school stress. School stress occurs more often than

people think.Katya was a prime example of what stress can do to someone. Every college student

wants to get A’s and B’s on their transcripts. Some students lose the will to keep pushing for

better grades will their are other students that get really anxious because they are unsure if they

passed the exam or if they will pass the exam. My biggest recommendation that I can give for
 Leon 3

someone is asking yourself if your able to handle the amount of college courses you are currently

enrolled in. Also determining if you have a lot going on in life. Putting everything together will

help you determine the course of action you have to take.

 Leon 4

Citations

Lemonick M. How to Deal with Anxiety. TIME Magazine. 2001;158(19):91.

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.pasadena.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsh&AN=5390241&

scope=site. Accessed November 12, 2019.

Cassata, C. (2019, October 2). 7 Ways to Increase Optimism and Reduce Anxiety Every Day.

Retrieved from

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/reduce-anxiety-by-practicing-optimism-can-help​.

Accessed November 12, 2019

Organization. (2014, August 20). 5 Ways To Cope With School Stress. Retrieved from

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/academic-pressure-5-tips-_n_2774106​. Accessed November 12,

2019