A group of over 100 counselors, parents, and faculty gathered in the Commons Tuesday night to discuss the issue of anxiety in students by watching and discussing the movie Angst.

Angst is an IndieFlix film released in 2017 to combat the rising number of adolescents suffering from anxiety. The film features interviews with teens and health experts about their experiences with anxiety.

The screening of the movie lasted about an hour and was followed by a 30-minute discussion with two psychologists from West County Psychological. The two psychologists split up, with one leading a discussion about anxiety in the classroom, and the other discussing anxiety with the parents.

“One of the things that stuck out was with the therapist’s presentation to faculty, asking questions like, ‘What can we do to help?’ and ‘What things might we think are helpful that (actually) aren’t’,” said counselor Walt Kempf.

“Teachers and parents wanted to know how they could help that particular student/child who was hard to reach. They wanted tips on how to engage a student/child who may not actively seek help or was more prone to suffering in silence,” said therapist Tina Murphy in an email to the Prep News. “According to several sources, anxiety affects at least 25 percent of today’s teenagers.”

“I thought it was very good, very insightful about what students who are suffering with anxiety with how they live and what they’re feeling and experiencing,” said Director of the Learning Center Tim Curdt. “That was very sad and scary, but that was very useful to emphasize with that story. But it was also hopeful to see the intervention and de-stigmatizing of the work as the students and parents learn to acknowledge, accept, and cope with anxiety.”

The event was organized by School Counselors Department Chair Mary Michalski after she saw this movie at Ursuline as a parent. When she learned of another screening at Lindbergh High School, she decided it was her opportunity to show some of the other faculty.

“When I saw they were showing it at Lindbergh I took Fr. Gibbons and a couple of counselors because I wanted them to see it in hopes of showing it here,” said Michalski.

Anxiety has been something on the radar of the Counseling Department at SLUH for the year.

“At our faculty meeting at the beginning of the year there was a student panel that talked a lot about anxiety,” said Michalski. “Anything that we can do to inform people and not be afraid to talk about it is beneficial.”

Anxiety can have affects beyond just the mind. It can harm you physically as well.

“I think it affects them a lot of ways in terms of resilience or perseverance, their overall sense of well-being throughout the day, it can distract them from learning, it can keep them from sleeping well, it can keep them from seeking support when needed, it can distort their perception of themselves, whether socially, academically, spiritually, it’s like this inner critic that continually dominates,” said Curdt. “It can also… manifest itself in powerful physical ways, the panic attacks, the messing with sleep cycle, the heart rates, the dizziness, those things. It can have very physical manifestations as well.”

In fact, this presentation was part of a schoolwide initiative to quell the worsening anxiety issue at SLUH.

“Even though this was sponsored by the school counseling office but this is really the start of scratching the surface of what we’re doing as an institution,” said Michalski. “We have this, and then Mr. Curdt is doing a seminar (about anxiety) that’s coming up for parents, and then the Voices of SLUH is focusing on anxiety, so it all ties in together. It really is part of a schoolwide effort to talk about this.”

—Ben Klevorn contributed reporting