Anagha* was in her 10th grade when her parents got her to the centre stating that their daughter was blanking out during exams. Anagha* talked to our psychologist in private where she revealed that if the question and answers are direct and she knows the answer, she doesn’t have any issues but panics when that’s not the case. This panic makes her scared and she forgets everything she learned along with what she described as “hearing her heartbeat in her ears”.

Once they began sessions, Anagha* was made to address her anxieties relating to examinations and introduced mindfulness techniques as homework. The vicious cycle of anxiety (getting anxious and being scared of your anxiousness and getting more anxious) was explained to her. Once Anagha* understood where her problem was, she was more relaxed and open to working on herself. Relaxation techniques like mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation (JPMR), and visualization techniques were explained to her.

Over the sessions, she was encouraged to identify her automatic thought process and its consequences. This helped her identify and label her thoughts and use strategies to help her cope with them. Their sessions helped Anagha* tremendously and they started seeing each other much less frequently.

(*name changed for anonymity)