Read Personal Stories 

Marisa Herrera-Keehn, Lance Rodriguez, Stephen Terry, and Bethany Martin created their senior thesis together - a short film called "Scarlett Garden" that tells the story about a girl named Scarlett who tries to help her brother out of his depression. When they receive the news about their stepfather not being able to recover from a liver disease, her brother turns to alcoholism and locks himself in his home for days at a time.

Erika is a distinguished scholar at the Grosse Ile Middle School in Michigan. For my 7th grade year here at the middle school, I chose to research about anxiety because some of my friends have it and I wanted to try and help them out. I have only been researching about it for a few months and I already know so much about it!

When I last sat down to reflect on my journey with anxiety I was nervous, timid, and YES even a little ANXIOUS. I wanted to share my story with the “right” spin or the “right” perspective. I gave just enough details to get the point across and deflect the focus away from me and my “issues”. This is what came out.

I was in seventh grade when I discovered I had anxiety. I didn't go to school for 2 months because every day my mom would take me, and I would end up on the floor of the car sobbing and hyperventilating. I was a sophomore in high school when I was diagnosed with depression. I skipped class a lot, I would cry over everything, and I would never leave the house.

PTSD is an invisible monster. It disguises reality. When I was sucked into what I learned to call the trauma vortex, I often couldn’t distinguish between what was real and what wasn’t. I thought I was going crazy.

Generalized anxiety disorder can be hard to recognize because you may not think of yourself as worried or anxious. But if you are having physical pain, or waking up in the night, or sensitive to sounds, or overthinking things, you may have GAD. That's what happened to me.