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Reducing Anxiety and Stress

In the case study that we were given, we were introduced to a college student named

Katya who has test anxiety and stress when it comes to taking her exams . Kayta, the student, has

a test coming up soon and has experienced a panic attack just a few days prior because she is so

stressed and worried that she will not do well on her test.

I have had so many of these same experiences. I would say that it was more in my first

year of college when I had more stress and anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, I am still currently

stressing as I am getting closer to finishing school, but it is a lot better than it used to be . I

remember this one time, it was in one of my psych classes, there was a final coming up and a ten

page paper due. I was so stressed out being in school fulltime and also had other classes to

worry about. I was working so hard and stressing out so much. Time was being made everyday

to get all of my work done and I was actually on top of it. I was just so overwhelmed, so I was

thinking I was not going to do well in most of my classes, especially the ten age paper that I was

behind on. I crammed for 3 days straight working on that paper and wer finals were over I

actually did overall very well in all of my classes. Shocked of course, I wondered why I had

stressed out so much and notice that I put myself into a panic even though I was working hard to

get the grades I deserve. The past few semesters, I have been working on techniques and trying

new activities to reduce my stress and anxiety. There is no surprise that these techniques and

activities have been working for me and should work for just about anyone.

If there would be any recommendations that i’d give, it would probably just be all of the

things that I do for myself. I send a lot of my time hiking and running. Just about every other day

I will go hiking up in altadena, or running around the rose bowl since it is so close to my house.
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Doing this clears my mind like no other way. After a good work out, I am able to think better

than I was before, I am able to see clearly what I need to do in my life and what needs to be

done. When I am not able to make it to the mountains or I want to do other things to reduce my

stress and anxiety, I read or try to do some kind of writing and planning. Updating my calendar

and agenda. While doing some research for this particular project, I came across this article

suggesting this coloring app to reduce anxiety in college students. In ​MANDALA-COLORING AS

A THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION FOR ANXIETY REDUCTION IN UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS, ​Gorrell explains, “Color therapy is one of the methods to reduce anxiety. It can be

defined as “the use of color to affect the body and its energy system in a way as to bring it back

into balance (904).” I found it very interesting because I actually have this app on my phone. It’s

one of the apps I use to distract myself when I am stressed. I use either pinterest, I read the news,

Color, and do crossword puzzles. I do recommend this app and all of the ones that I listed above

to anyone who is trying to find something to distract them from any negative thoughts they may

be having.

In conclusion, there are many many people who go through a tough deal of stress and

anxiety through the years, especially in college. The experiences that I have personally gone

through are a perfect example to myself that I just need to work on all areas of my life to keep

the stress an anxiety to a minimum. For some, it may be better to seek out professional help if

they are having a harder time with their situations, If you have any of your own techniques and

activities that you use to reduce your stress and anxiety, and you are getting good outcomes, it is

probably best to continues those ways.

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Gorrell, M. G. (2011). Ebooks on EBSCOhost: Combining NetLibrary Ebooks with the

EBSCOhost Platform. ​Information Standards Quarterly,​ ​23​(2), 31.
doi:10.3789/isqv23n2.2011.07
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