How should we approach individuals with exam anxiety?
Everyone experiences anxiety at some point in their life. It is completely normal for people to feel anxious depending on the flow of daily life. However, in those with anxiety disorders, feelings of anxiety are constant and tend to affect daily life. This does not mean that you are mentally ill, weak, or have a personality problem. There are effective treatment methods.
Anxiety is a person's psychological and physical reaction to a frightening or threatening situation. Every person experiences this reaction from time to time. Anxiety and fear are closely related emotions. While fear is a reaction to emerging dangers, anxiety includes concerns about the future. In other words, anxiety is more focused on the future. One of the best examples of anxiety is experienced in the exams taken by millions of people in our country. Many students feel test anxiety during and before the exam. The source of the anxiety is not clear. Dizziness, nausea, dizziness, insomnia and muscle tension that occur when we are afraid and anxious are the warnings our body gives us.
So how does test anxiety occur?
The meaning that the individual attributes to the exam, the image created about the exam, the gains to be achieved after the exam, and the expectations and pressure of the social environment also play an important role. Another thought that plays an important role in the formation of test anxiety is the fear of not being able to transfer the knowledge learned throughout the year during the exam. The fear of failure creates intense anxiety. Having a perfectionist personality structure and being prone to depression also trigger test anxiety.
What should individuals do to deal with test anxiety?
Test anxiety is actually necessary and useful, it motivates the student to achieve a goal. However, what is not helpful is excessive anxiety. Excessive test anxiety leads to failure. Coping with anxiety requires both physical and mental effort. The first step in dealing with test anxiety is to try to accept the anxiety instead of suppressing it. The meaning we attach to the exam Re-evaluating with a different perspective is another method to do. Breathing exercises, relaxation exercises, and trying to focus our attention are among the methods that will make it easier for us to control negative thoughts.
Suggestions for families
Disappointing the family, upsetting them, is worthless in their eyes, and the fear of failure is a greater anxiety than the anxiety that all exams will cause. . Families should know their children's limits. Children should not be given more trust and responsibility than necessary and beyond their limits. Positive feedback should be given. It should not be forgotten that having high expectations from the child and their attitudes and approaches towards the exam are important. And comparisons with peers should definitely be avoided. Families should create well-established family relationships by lowering their expectation levels to realistic limits. Families should love their children unconditionally and be appropriate role models. Trust your children and your part. Remember that your children are more important to you than every exam and every success, and share this with them.
I WISH YOU DAYS FULL OF LOVE, TRUST AND SUCCESS.
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