High school doesn’t last forever

Originally published in 2013.

Dear Annie: Earlier this year, I was caught up in a liability issue with my high school track coach. I had a knee injury and was being treated by a sports chiropractor, with the full approval of the superintendent of the school district. My coach, however, rejected the note from the chiropractor and caused me horrible stress and anxiety with the unnecessary demand that I see an internist. The principal said I had to do it.

The internist said the school and the coach were being ridiculous. Several months later, I am still thinking about everything that happened, and I sometimes become so obsessed with it that I suffer horrible anxiety. Every time a friend asks what happened, I become emotionally and mentally unstable and relive it.

This former track coach treated my parents and me with hostility, and I am worried about returning to school. How can I move on? My mind is taking a beating.

— Still Reliving the Misery

Dear Still: Any trauma can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, which causes the sufferer to relive the event over and over. You need to find a way to break the loop in your thinking. If you can do this by imagining a different, more empowering outcome, great.

It’s also possible that once school starts, your coach will simply ignore the incident, and you can do the same. Or you could approach him in a mature fashion and ask to put this behind you.

If he mistreats you, report it to the principal. If you are still traumatized, please consider short-term counselling. High school doesn’t last forever. Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column.