Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.

People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness or a rapid heartbeat. (Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology)

Several types of anxiety disorders exist:

• Agoraphobia (ag-uh-ruh-FOE-be-uh) is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and often avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
• Anxiety disorder due to a medical condition includes symptoms of intense anxiety or panic that are directly caused by a physical health problem.
• Generalized anxiety disorder includes persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events — even ordinary, routine issues. The worry is out of proportion to the actual circumstance, is difficult to control and affects how you feel physically. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.
• Panic disorder involves repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). You may have feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath, chest pain, or a rapid, fluttering or pounding heart (heart palpitations). These panic attacks may lead to worrying about them happening again or avoiding situations in which they've occurred.
• Selective mutism is a consistent failure of children to speak in certain situations, such as school, even when they can speak in other situations, such as at home with close family members. This can interfere with school, work and social functioning.
• Separation anxiety disorder is a childhood disorder characterized by anxiety that's excessive for the child's developmental level and related to separation from parents or others who have parental roles.
• Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) involves high levels of anxiety, fear and avoidance of social situations due to feelings of embarrassment, self-consciousness and concern about being judged or viewed negatively by others.
• Specific phobias are characterized by major anxiety when you're exposed to a specific object or situation and a desire to avoid it. Phobias provoke panic attacks in some people.
• Substance-induced anxiety disorder is characterized by symptoms of intense anxiety or panic that are a direct result of abusing drugs, taking medications, being exposed to a toxic substance or withdrawal from drugs.

Other specified anxiety disorder and unspecified anxiety disorder are terms for anxiety or phobias that don't meet the exact criteria for any other anxiety disorders but are significant enough to be distressing and disruptive.

Behavior management promotes positive behavior and reduces opportunities for poor behavior. Each mental health disorder has its own set of emotional and behavioral symptoms. By understanding the behavior,  then developing and using a set of intervention strategies on a regular basis, emotions and behavior can be effectively managed and changed in the classroom.

Depression

Depression is a disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. It is more than just a bout of the blues, it isn’t a weakness that can be simply “snapped out of”. With depression a child may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn’t worth living. Depression may require long-term treatment but most people feel better with help.

Executive Function

Executive functioning skills are generally described as deficits that impact an individual’s ability to organize and act on information.  The eight common sets of skills are: impulse control, emotional control, flexibility, working memory, self-monitoring, planning and prioritizing, task initiation, and organization.  We often see these deficits in our students through their struggles with initiating tasks, using class time appropriately, difficulty making decisions, and task completion.

Suicide/Self Injury

Suicide, taking your own life, is a tragic reaction to stressful life situations — and all the more tragic because suicide can be prevented. Whether you're considering suicide or know someone who feels suicidal, learn suicide warning signs and how to reach out for immediate help and professional treatment. You may save a life — your own or someone else's.

It may seem like there's no way to solve your problems and that suicide is the only way to end the pain. But you can take steps to stay safe — and start enjoying your life again.

Warning signs aren't always obvious, and they may vary from person to person. Some people make their intentions clear, while others keep suicidal thoughts and feelings secret.​

When to see a doctor:

If you're feeling suicidal, but you aren't immediately thinking of hurting yourself:

• Reach out to a close friend or loved one — even though it may be hard to talk about your feelings

• Contact a minister, spiritual leader or someone in your faith community

• Call a suicide hotline

• Make an appointment with your doctor, other health care provider or mental health provider
   

Suicidal thinking doesn't get better on its own — so get help.

For immediate help

If you think you may attempt suicide, get help now:

• Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

• Call a suicide hotline number. In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255). Use that same number and press "1" to reach the Veterans Crisis Line.

Trauma Sensitive Schools

Children and adolescents vary in the nature of their responses to traumatic experiences. The reactions of individual youths may be influenced by their developmental level, ethnicity/cultural factors, previous trauma exposure, available resources, and preexisting child and family problems. However, nearly all children and adolescents express some kind of distress or behavioral change in the acute phase of recovery from a traumatic event.

In this video learners will:

1. Understand what Adverse Childhood Experiences are and the landmark study that researched them.

2. Learn about the questions on the original ACEs study and , expanded questions in a recent large-scale study.

3. Review parts of the brain that are impacted by trauma and how these changes impact children at school.

4. Explore and understand how ACEs and trauma impact not only future health, but learning, behavior, and relationships for children in school.