GENERAL. Mateo develops Generalized Anxiety Disorder with a sprinkling of Panic Disorder just a few months after Ella’s accident. Mateo was always susceptible to developing this disorder just due to his father also suffering from Anxiety –– he has a genetic factor already. But I want to talk a little bit about his symptoms, the onset, his therapy, and just how it affects him in his day to day life.
ONSET. Mateo’s onset started a few weeks after the news about Ella came out, but it was full blown when his suspicions about his friends chasing her down are confirmed. He had been struggling to eat because he just felt so sick with guilt that it finally came to a head when he had to rush to the bathroom and actually get sick. But more than that, he had a complete panic attack at the thought of going to school that morning as well. His mother knew what a panic attack was, and so did Mateo because of his father’s disorder as well, so they helped him out and he was allowed to take the day off of school. For about a week, Mateo felt sick and threw up routinely whenever he thought about going back to school, his friends, his inaction, or Ella. He would go to school for a few hours and then be sent home because he had just thrown up in the bathroom. After all of this, his mother decided it was time to get him some real help. Mateo agrees wholeheartedly without question because he also wanted to get better.
THERAPY. Therapy really, really helped him. He was generally an open book with his parents so being an open book with his therapist was super easy as well. It was nice for him to hear someone else’s thoughts on the subject that wasn’t so close to him. He didn’t want to be told ‘it’s okay’ anymore because he knew it wasn’t okay. So it was refreshing to have someone be a little more forward and confrontational with him about his actions and inactions. His therapist immediately put him on anxiety medication to help him go back to school, but both of them agreed that just medication wouldn’t be enough. He signs up for weekly sessions with his therapist. He reduces them to every 2/3 weeks after he leaves High School. He has a very good relationship and connection with his therapist who helps him not only with his anxiety but also with the other things like coming to terms with his problematic actions, his guilt, and allowing himself to heal in other ways.
SYMPTOMS. Mateo has a variety of symptoms when it comes to his Anxiety Disorder. The more intense ones are:
➜ panic attacks which include trouble breathing, crying, pacing, elevated heart rate, sick to stomach.
➜ vomiting and difficulty eating in intense stress. for a period of time he lost a significant amount of weight because keeping food in his stomach was really difficult.
But his day to day symptoms are as follows:
➜ fear and anxiousness around going to school (even in university this is present, even if lessened).
➜ anxiousness when speaking/socializing in a group of people
➜ fear of confrontation
➜ trouble calming the mind in stressful situations
➜ general restlessness
TREATMENT. Mateo’s original treatment plan was to go on medication just so he could get back to a functioning level. His therapist coupled this with talk therapy which Mateo responded to really well. Eventually when Mateo comes off his medication, they also work with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which helps re-wire neuro-pathways by providing the patient with skills to change the way they think about anxiety inducing situations. Because Mateo also has Panic Disorder, his therapist recommends taking up a form of art when he feels a panic attack coming on. Mateo tries pottery and immediately falls in love with it. It helps him keep his mind focused on something else while his hands are also busy. Both Mateo and his therapist wanted to develop a plan that would help him be medication free, but Mateo has always said that he would go back on medication if it ever got really bad again.