‘I WAS LABELLED AS A HORMONAL TEEN BECAUSE OF ANXIETY ATTACKS’
Call to stop problems being dismissed as an ‘age thing’
POUNDING heartbeat, shaky limbs, sweating and nausea – that’s what Bethany Lamb felt when she started having panic attacks at school. The teenager from Blackwood reached a stage where she felt unable to walk through the school gates due to anxiety and started missing every other day of lessons. “It’s like feeling everything all at once –a feeling of being completely overwhelmed,” she said. Bethany was 13 when she first started to experience signs of anxiety, defined by mental health charity Mind as feelings of unease, worry or fear. According to Mind, some anxiety is normal, but can become a mental health problem when someone finds they are worrying all the time. “People just didn’t understand,” said Bethany. “Some of my teachers told me to concentrate on my work, some of the other pupils just said I was always upset. “I felt like it was brushed off because of my age.
“I was l labelled as a hormonal teenager, rather than being treated as a person with a mental health problem.”
BethanyBethan said she was told “you’ll ge get over it” and “it’s just your age”, which left her feeling more anx anxious and isolated.
As she worked towards her GCSEs, h her anxiety got worse, to the pointpoi she could no longer walk thro through the school gates.
“I just couldn’t face it,” she said. “I feltfe so uncomfortable.”
SupportedSuppor by her family and friends, s she went to see a doctor and st started counselling sessions.
BethanyBethan managed to get through h her exams and is now studying health and social care at Coleg y Cymoedd.
She ha has learned techniques to contr control her feelings of anxiety, such as saying the times tablestab in her head, and is also learninglear about mindfulness.
Bethany,Bethan now 17, became involved w with charity Fixers through her college and has started campaigningc to raise awarenessawarenes about mental health problems in adolescents.
She is keen to help other people andan hopes to become a counsellorcounsello when she has finished studying.stud
“I don’tdon’ think mental health in teenagersteenag is taken seriously enough,” she said. “I want people to sto stop dismissing it as an age thing or a hormone thing.
“I thinkthin it’s important for people tot recognise genuine mental h health problems so young pe people who are affected can get th the support they need.”
BethanyBethan is part of the #iwill campaign,campaign promoting volunteering, campaigning and fundraising.fundra WalesOnline is lookinglookin for 1,000 people to sign up before November.
For more information visit www. campaign. i will. org. u uk/wales