OPINION
9A
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
Symptoms may vary; stressed students can find help at Watkins
Every morning I wake up from a restless sleep that was filled with tosling and turning. After my anticipated alarm screams at me, I switch it off and lie there to dread the day that will be filled with exaggerated worry and stress.
After I stand up, my heart begins to pound and my palms begin to sweat. The day is new, now I have to get through it.
This is how I work, and how I think, because I, along with 40 million American adults, have an anxiety disorder.
The disorder I've recently been diagnosed with is called Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Shortness of breath, irritability, muscle tension, fatigue, heart palpitations and extreme worry are all indicators of anxiety, but when one is diagnosed with a disorder, these symptoms are frequent and long-term.
If I played horribly during a basketball game, or didn't get an 'A' on a test, I'd torture myself by thinking I was worthless, and eventually, I started to believe it.
There is no clear cause of why the anxiety develops, but the disorder usually starts by having negative anticipations of the future and excessive worry. Also, expecting the worst as if it will happen or is happening is also a huge indication of GAD.
Tracing my past, I've realized GAD started to develop in junior high. I remember putting extreme pressure on myself in almost every situation at school, and everything I did was never good enough.
After my confidence plummeted, my negativity increased, and because my outlook on my future never looked promising to me, I began to worry.
I kept telling myself to "suck it up" and get over it, but it kept
getting worse. Negativity and worry started to consume me.
Last year, I began college, and the changes only fueled my disorder. I felt as if I were slowly destroying myself by overly worrying about college demands. I couldn't focus in class, my grades weren't where I wanted them to be, my relationship with my family was deteriorating, and I isolated myself from my close friends. Everything seemed to be caving in until I finally broke down and saw a therapist.
To my surprise, many people I've talked to have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder as well.
"I was diagnosed at 14," Anna Sobering, Dallas sophomore, said
"I hated meeting new people, I never wanted to sleep over at other people's houses, and I wouldn't want to go to summer camps. My parents didn't understand me at first, so I thought I was going crazy. Fortunately, they finally understood and I saw a therapist and was put on medication."
But don't fret about the costs. The University actually provides assistance with a program called Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). They provide care for the mind, and the first consultation is free. Anytime after that, an individual session is $11. Also, there is a world of helpful advice located under the Watkins Health Center Web site for coping with stress. Even if a disorder isn't the case, it wouldn't hurt to take a look.
Taking prescribed medication and seeing a therapist may seem dramatic. But by doing so, it's a huge relief. Even therapists have therapists, and it seems everyone, no matter how together they have it, could benefit from talking to someone professional.
Osterhaus is a Seneca sophomore in journalism.
BLOGS@KANSAN.COM
It was late, I had laid down with my three year old who was a bit frightened by the thunder. The thunder I took as an ominous sign of things to come as the championship game got underway.
The fat lady sings again
After awhile, I switched to doing the dishes which had piled up, but before doing so went ahead and surfed to espn.com to keep an eye on the clicker - I'm far from the biggest basketball fan but I am a Jayhawk, and I did grow up here.
pionship. I was 9. Now, I'm 29 with two kids and a full load of homework and dishes, and I still don't mind missing a day of school.
Twenty years ago, I got out of school after we won the cham-
Joshua Anderson
So in between wash loads I would dry my hands, eat a left over sour-flavored skittle from my Christmas stocking, and check the score. I was glad I wasn't watching the game. As little as I usually care, I tend to get a bit worked up, especially during close games.
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COMMENTARY
Tyler Dohering
Get off your laptops and into your classes
KIRSTEN HUDSON
What's more distracting than noticing your teacher's fly is undone while they unknowingly continue the entire lecture? Laptops.
The use of laptops shouldn't be allowed during class. Whether you want to admit it, they're distracting.
Distractions from laptops have made some teachers at the University ban students from using them during their classes.
With wireless Internet available in most classrooms, it's easy to fix a boring lecture with a double-click on that Internet icon. Yet, being distracted in this way is like coming to class and not taking notes. I've never understood this. Unless you have some seriously superior brain power and can record an entire lecture on your brain without taking notes, why do you bother coming to class? Laptops are the same. If you're going to surf Facebook the whole time, why not do it in your sweats at home rather than wasting your time in class?
Ted Boone, professor of business, said that he did not allow the use of laptops or other electronic devices during his Introduction to Information Systems course. He said that students are too easily distracted by e-mail, text messaging, Web browsing, etc.
Unless the course can directly benefit from the use of computers, all too often "the computer becomes a distraction instead of an enhancement to learning," he said.
Charles Marsh, professor of journalism, doesn't ban laptops from his classes, but does ask students who use them to sit at the back of the classroom so as not to distract others. Marsh said he had seen students doing everything from shopping at Nordstrom to watching baseball. When laptop users are doing something to distract other students, "that's where laptop use crosses the line," he said.
True, there are plenty of other ways besides laptops to be distracted during class. Doodling, doing the SuDoku or daydreaming can all too easily make you tune out your professor's voice. Yet, eliminating laptops is more important because, unless you fall asleep and start drooling, at least daydreaming doesn't distract other students as well.
Computers are important. In fact, sometimes I get fidgety if I'm away from a computer too long. I probably couldn't go a day without getting on one. I can, however, manage to restrain myself for 50 minutes.
than a year ago, but because the guy beside me spent the entire period shopping for ridiculously large pocketknives on his laptop. Rather than listening to the professor, I spent the whole class in silent fear, wondering if he was going to stab me for having the audacity to sit next to him.
My most memorable laptop experience was during my first class at the University. It was in Budig 120, the largest lecture hall on campus. The size of the room amazed me so much that I was too nervous to scale the steps to a higher seat. So I sat in the front, in a row with only two seats beside a guy with a laptop on his desk. I don't remember anything about that class, not because it was more
While most students' experiences probably aren't quite so dramatic, students can still easily be distracted by what others are viewing on their laptops.
Hudson is a Wichita junior in journalism and business.
editorials around the world
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tibetan unrest remains 'under control'
As dozens of protesting monks interrupted a group of foreign journalists being escorted through Lhasa last Thursday, one thing was made amply clear: Despite what China says, the situation in Tibet is not under control.
Beijing is devastating its credibility a la "SARS 2003" by denying any legitimate causes for discontent and depicting Tibetan unrest as unprovoked "terrorist" attacks coordinated by the Dalai Lama.
Compared with many government responses, the West is saying disappointingly little about why Tibetan monks
would be willing to risk their personal freedoms.
But as China has shown very little initiative of its own for democratic reform, the West may come to regret having offered its silence on human-rights issues at such a cheap price.
—Taipei (Taiwan) Times April 2 editorial
To contribute to Free For All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500. Free For All callers have 20 seconds to talk about anything they choose.
I lost my hat on Mass last night! It's navy blue with KU in front and small Jayhawk in
--moment
--moment
Lost my keys, shoes, ID, purse and debit card. I think I have you heat
--moment
P. S. Thanks for Roy Williams' cheers for us! He remember he was a Jayhawk!
The last two seconds' 3-pointer is amazing! Like magical!
Dreams come true! KU won the champion, class canceled, and I got an A for my homework! Cheerios. Hawks!
--moment
This has definitely been the year of the Jayhawk! We made this Jayhawk Nation!
--moment
Does anyone else want to chip in a few bucks to bump up Self's salary?
My friends and I watched the game in a bar in Columbia full of Mizzou fans who were rooting for Memphis. Haha suckers!
Hello from the Los Angeles Alums. I was a sophomore when KU fell to Syracuse, I have never been more proud to be a Jayhawk then this
--no idea who you are.
--no idea who you are.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk KU baby. Oh and P.S. UCLA can suck it.
Tonight was the most amazing night of my life! Mario Chalmer, will you marry me?
I knocked some dude's beer out of his hands on Mass. Street during the celebration, and I'd like to apologize. I'd buy you a new one, but I have
It was a good night. 18th and Illinois is where it's at.
Classes are canceled. It was on the news and ESPN.
--way.
Mario Chalmers will you marry me? And Russ? And Darnell?
--way.
Jayhawks never lose to Tigers
We're proud of you boys! Thanks for bringing the title home with you.
To the guy who pinched my boob on mass street, I'm sorry, but I don't swing that
KANSAN.COM
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