Recognizing the signs of a brewing anxiety disorder
Sixteen-year-old Hannah is a picture-perfect Middle Tennessee teenager. A straight-A student, beautiful, active and musically talented, she starred in her high school’s spring musical.
Hannah (not her real name) hid a brewing anxiety disorder so well that even her mother had no idea she was becoming incapacitated by it—until she came home from a movie with her boyfriend last spring and quietly said that she had thought about committing suicide that night.
Already seeing a therapist, Hannah assured her mom that she would tell her if she had suicidal thoughts again. The therapist worked with her on relaxation techniques.
“I had never faced a situation like this before,” her mother recalls. “I had no idea that depression and anxiety had built up to the level it had.”
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