The Use of Mindfulness Practices to Relieve Symptoms of Anxiety and Migraine Headaches
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2018, Vol 7, Issue 1
Abstract
Intellectually gifted students have emotional intensity and mental processing that is outside of the norm for their age group and they often manifest anxiety about school and have difficulties in peer interaction. This anxiety often results in migraine headaches and a feeling of being “out of sync” with both school and their peers. Programs focusing on building motivation, self-concept and leadership are one way to meet the social-emotional needs of gifted students. Shayla a 16yr. old gifted student suffered from migraine headaches and she had a low self-concept. After participating in a three weeks residential leadership program focusing on mindfulness practices, she became free from migraine headaches, and there was a significant increase in her self-concept, motivation and leadership skills. Introduction Today schools as a result of a current focus on achievement and test results tend to teach toward memory and recall, neglecting the higher levels of thinking that intellectually gifted students need, and the result is that gifted students underachieve, procrastinate in school work they have already mastered [1]. These gifted students may become behavior problems they face endless hours of boredom in the regular classroom. Stephanie Tolan in her book Out of Sync [2] said the capacities of mind that make up giftedness can create what she calls oddity of eminence; the unremarkable or the spectacular. For the individual gifted student these capacities can create fulfillment and success or pain and confusion. Anxiety and an overall apathy for school and social interaction are often a result of a lack of challenge [3]. Mindfulness practices have been used successfully with adults by Jon Kabat -Zinn in the Mindfulness -Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinics. Randomized controlled trials and studies have shown impressive reduction in psychological morbidity associated with medical illness after mindfulness training, as well as a reduction of stress and enhanced emotional well-being in non-clinical samples [4]. Marsha Linehan, a pioneer in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) uses mindfulness strategies to develop five social emotional competencies: a) self-management, b) self-awareness, c) social awareness, d) relationship skills, and e) responsible decision-making [1]. Shayla (not the real name) is a 16 years old gifted adolescent suffering from migraine headaches, a low self-concept and difficulty in relating to her peers. In addition, she is not motivated about school work and is seldom involved in any type of leadership activity. Student Description Shayla is in the 11th grade in a public school that provides Advanced Placement classes for high ability and gifted students, but there is little or no counseling available for her social-emotional needs. She is an A/B student, but puts little or no effort in daily work and waits until the last minute to complete assignments with the accompany anxiety resulting from that behavior. Case History Shayla was referred to the gifted program during second grade in her school as a result of her advanced vocabulary and reading level on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at the sixth grade level. She was administered a WISC and achieved an intelligence quotient of 140. In the elementary school, she was able to explore projects of interest using problem based learning activities, and she was placed in a classroom with a cluster of other gifted students. At the middle school level, there were no provisions for Shayla as a gifted student, and she began to underachieve, to have headaches and wanting to stay home. She was on medication for her migraine headaches and showed little interest in school. As a result, she was not nominated for the Pre-Advanced Placement Classes for able students. In high school, her parents insisted that she be included in at least one AP class, and she was enrolled in the AP Math classes for her Freshman, Sophomore and Junior year; however, she did not take the tests for credit, as her teachers and she felt that she could not pass the test. Her mother researched summer programs for high school gifted students and found the Texas Governor’s School at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and requested an application for Shayla. Her application was reviewed by a selection committee who recommended that she be accepted and a treatment plan be designed for her.
Authors and Affiliations
Dorothy Sisk
Keywords
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- EP ID EP592684
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.07.001445
- Views 221
- Downloads 0
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