Like so many of these monthly posts, it's often obvious that father doesn't necessarily know best...nor does mother, and nor do so many others.
I delayed writing this until the last minute, not because I didn't have a topic, but because of privacy concerns. Since there is some anonymity to this site, I'm going ahead and sharing my daughter's story here -- please respect her privacy. Thanks.
Just a couple weeks before finals of the fall semester of Runner daughter's Junior year of college, Mrs. Runner and I found ourselves driving 1-½ hours to her apartment, where we found her curled up on her bed, a sobbing mess. This was our jarring introduction to anxiety disorders.
We didn't know what the problem was at the time, but it didn't take long to diagnose. No one can be certain what brought it on, but surely the stress of college was part of it, and we also discovered that some OCD was also involved, as was the combined living space with three others in her apartment suite. Any thoughts of salvaging at least a class or two of the current semester were gone, as was starting the next semester.
What does this attack look like? I'm sure this isn't necessarily typical for all anxiety attacks, but in her case it was like seeing someone caught between deciding to do two or more things at once and the confusion that would cause; the fallout wasn't just emotional but also physical, leaving her core muscles painfully sore.
The medical treatment for anxiety disorders isn't something that can be done overnight: any of the medications generally need to be started at a low level and increased slowly over time, in concert with any therapist and/or psychologist visits. Several weeks after her treatment had begun, we were frustrated to have to start over with a different medication when we determined the first was not working adequately. She was experiencing nightmares, and I'm proud of her for recognizing when she was having suicidal thoughts and called an expert -- her godmother, who is a pastor and also has dealt with people with anxiety disorders. Also during this time, we got a small rescue dog, who was a life raft to her (and to us!)
While waiting on pharmaceutical relief, the three of us were learning how to identify when an attack was coming on, and how to prepare and combat it. And it was frustrating and slow going. Little by little, though, life began returning to normal. Runner daughter explored a new major at a more local college, and took a required class or two at the community college. We weren't sure we'd ever get there, but she enrolled for the fall semester. The next summer she got a part time job, which she kept through her Senior year. She still has (very infrequent) attacks, but she is able to recognize them and deal with them accordingly.
This spring she graduated (Magna Cum Laude) and had a job lined up even before she had graduated. And she's now looking at apartments. We thank God daily that she is back to being her (fairly) confident, headstrong self.
Why do I share all this? Partly because I know many parents have similar trials, and those that do can know that there is help and that it can work. The other part is that hopefully you empathize with people who do have mental disorders and those who work with them -- not just anxiety disorders, but eating disorders, depression, and even more debilitating afflictions.
