Visible Anxiety

[poweringthrough, ADN]

So what does one do about visible anxiety in clinical? I have GAD, agoraphobia, and panic disorder. I take heavy amounts of SSRIs , Benzos, and other drugs to stay stable ( about 4-5 rx's total right now) . I have been in counseling but can't be right now due to school and family situation. My anxiety was addressed by my clinical instructor in first semester ( I was told to get it under control). I took a semester off to do that, and now I am getting feedback that I am being too anxious again from patients.

The fact is that I feel like I can't do any more to get myself under control than what I am doing. I'm three months away from my ADN and my psychiatrist and counselor have both told me to just hang in and get it done. So do I stay? Quit? What's the answer?

[Sour Lemon]

This is a highly personal type of question that strangers just can't answer well. Is the feedback just from patients? Are your instructors commenting, as well?

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

From a student that also has diagnosed panic disorder, and very likely GAD if I ever decide to get a doctor to look into it...

You do what the rest of us do, learn ways to just work through it. You're far from being the only one. There's a huge support network out there. Look around the internet for things people do to help keep themselves calm and get control back after an attack. There's a lot out there about how to handle the obsessions.

Stick with it. It'll get better. The stress of college is definitely adding to it. People without anxiety disorders have anxiety issues in college. You're only 3 months away from being done with it.

But when you graduate, I'd definitely get back into therapy, find time for appointments whenever you can. They do great jobs at getting people to the point of having control of their anxiety. Take a little bit of time off after school and before starting nursing to focus on yourself. You earned it.