I took a seat at a large conference table in the university’s counseling center. I looked around nervously. I kept my hands in my lap, fingers (figuratively) crossed, hoping that I wouldn’t recognize a single face that walked through the door and into the Anxiety and Stress Management Class that I’d signed up for. It was a six-week class that I’d discovered via a flier posted on a bulletin board outside of my second home, the university library. As I sat and waited, my heartbeat felt large and uncomfortable. No doubt, I was anxious.

I was a first-semester graduate student at the time, trying to keep up with the 200+ pages I needed to read each week for my classes. It was just too much reading. (I hadn’t yet fully realized the fine art of skimming and scanning.) Theories would blend together and famous philosophers like Hume and Locke would inch their way into my dreams, uninvited. Even during the waking hours, I couldn’t relax. I’d try to zone out by watching a sitcom; instead, I’d find myself thinking about how little I know about designing research studies — and I needed to know for that exam on Monday! — and I’d only end up flustered and feeling unproductive when the credits rolled by. I couldn’t keep my anxiety level in check. Not even through the traditional notion of relaxing — sitting on the couch, remote control in hand, pleasant faces and canned laughter on the screen. Nope. Didn’t work.

I held my breath as a handful of fellow students began filtering into the conference room. “He looks unfamiliar,” I thought, as I eyed up the other anxious twenty-somethings walking through the door. “And that girl looks friendly…maybe. Wait, maybe not.”

I had been nervous enough while walking up the stairs to the Counseling Center, and I’d tried to hide my face in an issue of the school’s weekly newspaper while I was in the Center’s waiting room, eight long minutes early. This was almost too much for my anxiety-ridden self. I never had a problem with social anxiety before — my anxieties have always been a result of workload issues — but I suddenly felt like I’d had a new diagnosis. I just didn’t want anyone else to know that I was having a problem. I was excited for the content of the class, which advertised cognitive and behavioral techniques that promised to get me through my first semester, but not for the company. Sitting in that conference room, I felt stigmatized. It was like I had a banner flying over my head that read “Yes, I do have a problem with anxiety!” There was no going back.

Students continued to walk in. “Oh no, I’ve seen him before. Somewhere in the library, maybe? A student worker at the circulation desk?” I couldn’t remember. My heart felt like it was vibrating.

One of my professors would open each evening class by asking our class where we fell on the 1-to-10 “How ready are you to quit this program?” scale. That week, I was running on a 9.5…only because I was scared to admit the truth and give myself a 10. I had already been dressing my own academic grave and calling around for quotes on health insurance. Meanwhile, my classmates had all reported scores of 5 or below for that week. How could they be keeping their heads so level while I’m slowly cracking up from the pressure? How could they sit and watch television in the evening, or read a book for pleasure, or go for a walk knowing that there was a major amount of work to be done?

The halfway point of the semester was upon us, and the same professor with that brilliant scale idea had described the next seven weeks as a “downhill train ride” with no brakes. Oh, and the train was full of explosives. And there was a baby tied to the tracks ahead. (I’m not kidding; he actually said that!) How could the rest of my cohort sleep at night? Everyone knew that grad school wasn’t a walk in the park, but honestly? Explosive downhill trains to terror & babies tied to the tracks? I didn’t understand how everyone else projected such an A-OK, hunky-dory, we’ll-get-through-this image.

I wrote my name in red on a friendly “Hello! My Name Is…” sticker and strategically stuck it quite low on my shirt so that no one seated at the table could easily see who I was.

Then, I happened to glance up at the door.

Oh no! I tensed with fear. Someone from my own department!

I tried to look away as I saw a classmate from my very own academic department walk into the conference room. I pretended to fuss with my name tag, then with my purse. I dug around in my purse, trying to feign like I was searching for something direly essential. I pulled out a tin of mints — a terribly essential tin of mints — and tried to take my time looking for the perfect one. But I heard the door close and I looked up automatically. It was inevitable. I had to say hello and get it out of the way.

“Oh, hey there, Laurie…” I said to the familiar face across the table, a seasoned second-year student, trying to act casual. Like I’d bumped into her at the mall, or in the cereal aisle at the grocery store. Or something. Something completely routine and normal, nothing like an Anxiety and Stress Management Class in an awkward conference room in the Counseling Center at our university. I forced a funny smile and sheepishly waved a sweaty palm in the air.

She looked as uncomfortable to see me as I was to see her at first. But after a few seconds of small talk and playing the “I’ll tell you my problems if you’ll tell me yours” game, I learned that she’d signed up for the class because her thesis topic was growing larger and more unmanageable each day. It was just too much for her to handle on her own.

Our academic program was intense and competitive. I had always thought that telling my classmates about my trouble with anxiety would elicit quiet stares of superiority, a quasi-sympathetic comment or two, and little else.

I was wrong.

I told her I was at a 9.5 on “the scale” and she knew exactly what I was talking about. It helped. The empathy helped. She’d been a first-semester grad student before, with the same professors and the same pressures. She’d had her own (high) rating on “the scale” last year when she was in the same class. She understood! She understood my motivation for wanting to drop out, and she knew what I meant when I said Locke and Hume were invading my dreams.

And after only two minutes of our casual chat, a fair percentage of my therapy was finished before the class had even started. The power of empathy and social support is often stronger than we think — strong enough, in this case, to chisel away noticeably at both my ready-to-quit score and my heart rate. It was no small feat.

Laurie put on a nametag, and I unstuck mine and moved it up.

(19 votes, average: 4.42 out of 5)

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Jun 2008