Elisa Fanchiang

7/5/15
Health Education
Project 3: Case Study
Worrying does not take away tomorrows troubles; it takes away todays peace. While
there is a lot of truth in this anonymous saying, this refers to a problem many college students
need to combat - anxiety. With an increase in people suffering from an anxiety disorder, a more
in-depth examination of this disorder among college-age students can be the first step in solving
this social dilemma.
To start the examination of anxiety disorders, we will use an example of a typical college
student suffering from anxiety. Katya is a good student and a hard worker. She is in her first
year of college and has a 3.0 grade point average. Unfortunately she suffers from extreme test
anxiety because she does not believe her studying will result in high enough grades. She has a
chemistry test that she must do well in to keep her scholarship. Her severe anxiety manifests in a
panic attack two days before her chemistry test. What should she do?
Katyas situation is similar to many college students. According to the National Institute
of Mental Health, there is an increase in anxiety related disorders (Anxiety, 2010). This can
range from anxiety during a test, to panic attacks, or to mental breakdowns. There are two
different approaches to Katyas anxiety academic and psychological. The academic approach
addresses how to decrease factors that could contribute or exacerbate her anxiety. The
psychological approach addresses ways to help Katya through her anxiety.
The academic approach decreases factors that can trigger or increase Katyas anxiety.
For the academic approach, Katya should consider changing her schedule, changing her major
and practicing metacognition strategies. For her future semesters in college she should consider

the organization of her classes to make sure the workload is balanced throughout the week and
the exam schedule is not too compacted. I also suggest Katya to think about her major. If she is
taking Chemistry I assume that she is probably majoring in a science or engineering. Based on
my own experience, these majors are stressful and highly competitive. If her anxiety is triggered
by stress, she might consider changing her major. Other than these drastic academic changes she
can also start using metacognitive strategies. Metacognition refers to the ability to think about
how much one knows about something. These strategies include reflecting on ones own
knowledge, creating goals, and continual re-assessment of understanding and re-setting of goals.
This technique has found to have success in improving academics and students attitude and
motivation towards class (Rezvan, 2006). Some of Katyas anxiety stems from her belief that
her efforts will amount to nothing. Using metacognitive strategies she will first assess her
understanding of the different Chemistry concepts. Then she will make a goal to only focus on
what she needs to study for the test. Then re-assess after she is done studying each section so she
can re-create her studying goals. As a teacher, I highly recommend this method. This will allow
Katya to only to focus on what she needs to study and the constant re-assessments will show her
how much she has learned to increase her self-esteem and decrease her anxiety.
The psychological approach to Katyas situation will address how to deal with her
anxiety. First, she should see a professional about her panic attack. A medical professional can
assess if she is suffering a one-time anxiety event or if this is part of a pattern that will develop
into an anxiety disorder. Second, she should either join a support group or participate in therapy
to help reduce her anxiety. A method that has seen success is the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
In the recent years an internet based version of the therapy has been integrated into the
psychology community. The basis of the therapy is to change the way a person views their own

behavior. Research has shown the positive effect of this therapy for people suffering anxiety
(Newby, 2014). I personally have never had issues with test anxiety and I am not sure how
therapy works. Therefore I suggest seeing a professional and using a research based procedure
that has been proven to be effective.
Using both the academic and psychological approach Katya can look forward to a better
second year in college. Since I personally cannot relate to this students experience I defer to the
experts. While I have never experienced test anxiety I cannot discount people who feel this way.
There has been an increase in college-age students diagnosed with anxiety disorder. This is
social dilemma that needs to be addressed before the problem becomes an adulthood epidemic.

Works Cited
Any Anxiety Disorder Among Adults. (2010, July 15). Retrieved from
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/any-anxiety-disorder-among-adults.shtml
Newby, J. M., Williams, A. D., & Andrews, G. (2014). Reductions in negative repetitive thinking
and metacognitive beliefs during transdiagnostic internet cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT)
for mixed anxiety and depression. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 5952-60.
Rezvan, S., Ahmadi, S. A., & Abedi, M. R. (2006). The effects of metacognitive training on the
academic achievement and happiness of Esfahan University conditional students. Counselling
Psychology Quarterly, 19(4), 415-428.