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Nataj Walker
John Knott
Health: 044
20 July 2014

The word stress has two common and similar definitions one defines it as a
state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding
circumstances. The other identifies it as pressure or tension exerted on a material object.
Though the definitions seem different in determination (one being directly psychological,
the other being of conditional situations) in Katyas case of testing anxiety, and in the
case of many college students, both definitions are quite accessible to understanding the
causes and answers to her stress and finding relief.
As a college student especially in the first year, it is imperative to realize the
responsibility and new depth of selfhood one is taking on. For Katya, it seems she
assumed the responsibility immediately by achieving a scholarship from high school,
based on a 3.0 grade point average and then following through with maintaining that
GPA. The goals set for Katya are not unheard of, and are pretty significant for a plethora
of students. With Katyas situation, having impulses of anxiety disturbing her confidence
in her own abilities and the height of her stress, it is not hard to assume she has been
dealing with this stressor long before college. If anything she might have even pushed the
stress further once entering college, due to the added pressure of keeping her grades at a
standard for a scholarship that allows for her to go to school. Katya has found her self in
a vicious cycle or rather - general adaptation syndrome.
As Katya continued to exhibit prominent stress habits she has allowed a sort of
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established reaction, coined as, general adaptation syndrome. When this occurs, the body
sees the initial experience with the stressor as a threat first lowering the bodys
resistance to that form of stressor. Once this stressor has been identified, the body can
then build a temporarily higher resistance to said form of stressor, but in due time if the
stressor is not resolved and handled with modes of overcoming, the body will run out of
adaptation energy, making it unable to recover from these stressors. When the body loses
this recovery energy the body falls below the normal resistance levels which at rest, are
at homeostasis. Katyas condition is definitely a high stress, and anxiety driven reaction.
Mostly though, Katya seems to have a severe test anxiety driven by her overall GPA. In
the deduction, of how much even the thought of the test had put her out of her wits end, I
would definitely say, due to the longated amount of time spent feeling this pressure of
test anxiety she has surely broken down her bodys innate capabilities to resolve this
sort of stress.
In manually resolving the stress that Katya has been living with here are the
facts that affect her and how she can go about lessening her anxiety. In all cases of stress,
the affects can go from moderate reactions such as acne, worrying, and moments of
memory laps. Such problems are important to take note on and resolve but, can be easily
over come with immediate identification of the problem and seeking outlets such as
exercise, change of diets, and speaking out about any problems. The higher stress
becomes, the more severe the implications can become almost to a point of vegetation
for some. These implications can involve high blood pressure, anxiety attacks, shortness
of breath, weight loss, inappropriate forms of coping such as hair pulling or excessive
sleeping, and overall an entire lacking of self determination. Katya is not much different
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from many other college students with hopes of achieving a certain standard while
finishing out their education. The problem she faces is not about how well or bad she
does. The real issue is, Katyas self-deprecating attitude toward the person she THINKS
she is. Doubting carelessly, and pushing herself harder to achieve at a level that she has
already proven to excel at, Katya is allowing her mental state to believe she is less than
an achieving valuable person during these testing times. Because our own subjectivities
are the only ones we are truly aware of, when we allow negativity of self to enter our
mindsets, we perpetuate the recycled feelings until we become burdened with these
facts to the point that our bodies stop being able to tell the difference in knowing if we
are capable or not.
Katya can find coping mechanisms as a huge benefit to her overall problem with
test anxiety some being: allowing for breaks between studying that involve fun or pure
relaxation. There are many studies that explain that over doing studying or any physical
activity without a time of rest can actually make concentration harder kind of like the
age old statement the more you say a phrase, it begins to lose its meaning. The truth in
that statement speaks wonders, the more Katya begins to approve of herself and her value
as a student and person, the more she can lessen her fixation on being better and pushing
strenuously without gratification. As well, Katya would equally benefit from the above
advice of speaking with a counselor In the 2009 Star Tribune, Jenna Ross, writes about
the finals season in college restating This is the busiest time of year, several counseling
centers said, because class work ramps up and finals loom. She goes onto identifying
each student as feeling targeted like a number, rather than a human in the school system. I
think Katya might have been feeling the same less than a person and more of a machine
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that is expected to work at a distinguishable height.
In closing to Katyas particular issue, it is one that can be resolved possibly even
before her exam. She would need to find a counselor at school, allow them to hear all of
her concerns the counselor is their to remind each and every person of how valuable
they truly are and to listen to where the initial test anxiety might have rooted. Another
step for Katya would be to find herself something she likes to do, and then make the same
scheduled amount of time she takes for studying to do her own leisure activity. It will
distract her mind from the worry she is constantly under, and give her back some more
energy that she probably reserved for stress and studying. Last, it would be in great
benefit for Katya to speak out about this situation with friends and family, because
having support from the people who know you best allows for more personable feelings
and if the people in her life can relate and give her confidence in her abilities she may
find it easier to believe in herself as well.







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Citations
Ross, J. (2009, November 23). A 'national crisis' of student suicide: Colleges are straining
to help young people who are struggling with depression and mental health issues. Star
Tribune (Minneapolis, MN).