Anxiety and how it can affect your child's education

It is not uncommon for me to see students coming in with the presentation of, "Iam not coping with my first year of college". 

In college, the curriculum is not as structured, and close guidance by the lecturer is not the same as it is in secondary school.  Poor performance can often affect the student's anxiety and self esteem.

An anxious and perfectionistic student usually prefer certainty, structure, and predictability.  They do not usually cope well with big changes especially if it is something that they don't have much control over.

In my clinical practice, I usually like to take a very proactive approach and intervene quite early.  Ideally, before they start university or college, I would like to help them understand themselves better, help them to understand their anxiety better, help them to be more aware of more positive and realistic thinking, and equip them with more tools to deal with their emotions.

The main advice here is to seek help early, and prevention is better than cure.