“Most people know someone who has anxiety problems,” Curtis Crews, an Academy of Information Technology teacher, said, introducing the film to his students. “Everybody walking these halls deals with this.”
Chapel Hill High School screened Angst, a documentary about teen anxiety, on March 20 in an extended fourth-period class, followed by 15-minute discussions moderated by teachers.
“It was interesting,” sophomore Andres Angeles-Paredes said. “The issues they talked about didn’t really affect me, but it brought some ideas to light and made me realize more about others’ experiences.”
One part of the film sticks out to several students: the appearance of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who relates his experience with depression to a middle-schooler who idolizes him. “Even famous people have problems,” sophomore Adriana Kurtovic said.
However, not all students wanted to watch the documentary. “I tuned it out and didn’t pay attention at all,” senior Carsyn Turner, who spent the period doing test corrections, said, though she does remember the Phelps segment.
Crews said that he was touched by the documentary. During his time in the Air Force, he revealed to his class, he dreaded presenting in front of others. He relied on verbal fillers, second-guessed himself and felt overwhelmed by anxiety.
“Those students in the film were like me, afraid they’re going to say something wrong and mess up,” he said. “I now know it’s not a big deal if you mess up: if you mess up, it’s life. You have to love yourself, and it will be okay. With all of my hangups and inability in this way and that way, it’s still okay. I’m okay.”
Even after Crews’ disclosure, his students remained silent at the beginning of the discussion. “We all have anxiety,” Crews said. “I’m not trying to drag it out of you—even in this close-knit class, it’s still hard to talk about.”
One student in Crews’ class, junior Austin Kiziah, hopes that the documentary will be shown at other schools in the district. “It can help people who maybe aren’t going to search for help receive the help they need,” he said.
In her English class, senior Leslie Villalvazo and her classmates were glad that they could watch the film together. “It helps you empathize more with people,” she said.
The showing at Chapel Hill was bundled with other activities meant to empower students, such as mindfulness instruction led by social workers, which runs once every other week in A216 for the rest of the school year.
“Our goal is to give students a voice in addition to ways to improve and maintain good mental health in self and others,” Principal Sulura Jackson wrote in a weekly email. She asked for students “to voice their concerns and recommend solutions to keep schools safe.”
Created by Seattle-based film distributor IndieFlix with Elephant in the Room Productions, Angst presents interviews with adolescents and younger children, their parents, teachers and mental-health experts, including vivid descriptions of anxiety attacks. “Sometimes, stress is just far too much to handle,” one student said.
The film was previously shown at Hanes Theatre in January to an audience of mostly parents, financed by the Public School Foundation and district parent-teacher associations. A panel discussion after the original screening featured local mental-health experts, who answered questions ranging from child cell-phone use to the difference between “feeling anxious” and an anxiety disorder.
The student assistance program specialist for Chapel Hill High School, Jim Wise, who was a panelist, worked to bring the documentary to the school on both occasions. For Wise, the most memorable part of the film was the “simple, practical advice from clinicians” that are “very relatable.”
Therapists who spoke in the documentary suggested several methods, such as practicing mindfulness, to ease suffering when anxiety flares. In addition, immediate distraction from emotion—taking stress breaths, focusing on ambient noise, picturing a calm place, journaling, drawing or listening to music—can shift one’s experience. Wise added that getting exercise outside and enough sleep are also helpful in relieving anxiety.
Resources and videos are available at the film’s and the school counseling website.
