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Exam Anxiety for adolescentFrom: Alexia, Med Student (gymnalix@aol.com)Tue Feb 11 13:51:38 2003
Hello, everyone! I have a quick question for you. I have begun volunteer work at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Manhattan, and Saturday afternoon I was allowed to be present with a physician or physician assistant in the exam room with the patients. (It was really great of the staff!) Anyway, we saw mainly low-income adolescents (16-22-ish....who knows what the definition of adolescence even IS anymore!?), and most of them had some anxiety about their exams, understandably. However, one young woman in particular (she was 20) had severe anxiety about a routine exam, even though she'd had one two years before. She was sexually active, but had a borderline panic attack (heart palpitations, beads of sweat, trouble breathing) when she was asked to undress. A nurse and I tried to calm her, but after about twenty minutes of our best efforts, we had to give up and reschedule. I tried explaining exactly what the doctor was going to be doing, telling her why it was important to have the check-up, etc., but nothing worked. It was very frustrating because I wanted to help. I guess my question to you all is this: How often does this sort of thing happen? Is there anything you have found that works well to help alleviate the fear of an exam, besides sedation? (Just kidding!) Do you know if this sort of anxiety usually stems from past sexual abuse? Any advise or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated-- I'll be going back to volunteer this coming Saturday, and I would like to be better able to handle the situation, should a similar one arise. Thanks a lot! Alexia Bradford 2nd year med student, Cornell
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