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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small

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Speaker 1: decisions we can make to become the best possible versions

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Speaker 1: of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr Joy hard and Bradford,

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Speaker 1: a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or

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Speaker 1: to find a therapist in your area, visit our website

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Speaker 1: at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While I hope

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Speaker 1: you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it

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Speaker 1: is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship

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Speaker 1: with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for joining me for a special bonus episode of

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Speaker 1: the Therapy for Black Girls podcasts. We'll get right into

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Speaker 1: our conversation after a word from our sponsors. For the

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Speaker 1: young people in our lives, test taking can invoke feelings

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Speaker 1: of stress and anxiety. As their guardians, teachers, and loved ones,

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Speaker 1: many of us wonder how we can aid them to

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Speaker 1: push past test anxiety and excel in their academic pursuits.

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Speaker 1: Joining us today is Diane Placid, a licensed mental health

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Speaker 1: therapist specializing in working with you dealing with anxiety. During

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Speaker 1: our conversation, we discussed what test anxiety is, and what

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Speaker 1: it might look like in a learning environment, how we

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Speaker 1: can prepare our students to feel confident in a classroom

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Speaker 1: or test taking setting, and what resources are available for

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Speaker 1: you dealing with test anxiety. If something resonates with you

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Speaker 1: while enjoying our conversation, please share with us on social

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Speaker 1: media using the hashtag TBG in session or join us

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Speaker 1: over in the sister circles to talk more in depth

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Speaker 1: about the episode. You can join us at community do

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Speaker 1: Therapy for Black Girls dot com. Here's our conversation. Well,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today, Diane, Thank

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Speaker 1: you for having me. I was so excited to be on. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I am excited to chat with you about a

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Speaker 1: topic that I think a lot of people have some

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Speaker 1: concerns about and that I'd love for you to share

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Speaker 1: more information about. So can you tell us what is

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Speaker 1: test anxiety? Test anxiety is a form of anxiety that's

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Speaker 1: caused by test taking. Anxiety basically is the fear of

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Speaker 1: something getting ready to happen, increase worry that causes sometimes

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Speaker 1: physical conditions and intrusive mental health situations that makes it

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Speaker 1: hard for us to function daily. Got it? And can

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Speaker 1: you say a little bit more about like how this

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Speaker 1: looks in the classroom or the academic environment. Sure, So

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Speaker 1: in the classroom, what might look like our students who

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Speaker 1: try to probably avoid certain assignments, certain tests. On typical

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Speaker 1: days that a student would be scheduled to take a test,

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Speaker 1: they avoid going to school on that day. They may

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Speaker 1: feel like they're getting stomach eggs, or they may have

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Speaker 1: increased sweatiness. They may get certain negative thoughts around the

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Speaker 1: test taking. Oh maybe I'll fail, maybe I won't do well.

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Speaker 1: I'm never good at anything. So those are some of

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Speaker 1: the things that you'll see with students who have some

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Speaker 1: test anxiety. And does this typically only show up in

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Speaker 1: the testing situations or might we see this also as

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Speaker 1: it's related to like homework or answering a question in

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Speaker 1: class or is it very specific to test taking. I

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Speaker 1: believe that it's incorporates a lot of other school things

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Speaker 1: that lead up to tests taking, such as homework, such

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Speaker 1: as completing certain assignments leading up to taking the test.

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Speaker 1: So I think it incorporates all of those things. Got it.

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Speaker 1: So you have experience working in schools, can you talk

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Speaker 1: about how test anxiety maybe showed up like in our stutty? Sure? Yes,

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Speaker 1: So I've actually worked in a high school as a

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Speaker 1: college counselor, so preparing high school students they're transitioned to college.

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Speaker 1: I went to Howard University where I studied school Psychology

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Speaker 1: and counseling services. So that was actually my tract, and

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Speaker 1: I started interning as a school college counselor. And so, yes,

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Speaker 1: I've had different experiences working with students who experience high

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Speaker 1: levels of test anxiety. Got it? And so what are

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Speaker 1: some of the signs that parents or caregivers might be

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Speaker 1: on the lookout that their young person might be struggling

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Speaker 1: with something like test anxiety. Parents should be on the

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Speaker 1: lookout for students who miss a lot of days in schools,

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Speaker 1: who probably are isolated from their peers, They feel discouraged

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Speaker 1: when completing certain assignments or performing on a test. They

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Speaker 1: all so noticed their child is failing a lot of

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Speaker 1: assignments if they're not doing so well on tests, but

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Speaker 1: maybe they are passing their assignments, but when the test comes,

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Speaker 1: they're failing them. When students are cheating also can be

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Speaker 1: another form of noticing a trigger, because if the student

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Speaker 1: feels like they aren't capable of completing the tests on

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Speaker 1: their own that they need to kind of rely on

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Speaker 1: their peers. You're getting a lot of calls at home

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Speaker 1: because their behaviors on the day of the test isn't right.

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Speaker 1: You know, they're misbehaving during the day that they have

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Speaker 1: to take the tests. They're talking, you know, they're stepping

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Speaker 1: out in the hallway. That's seen as a type of

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Speaker 1: avoidance as well. So you know, Diane, my little ones

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Speaker 1: are still schooling virtually right, So they're still at home

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Speaker 1: and I'm wondering or there are some ways that this

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Speaker 1: might look different, or have you seen a different kind

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Speaker 1: of flavor, so to speak. To test anxiety in a

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Speaker 1: virtual environment, well, virtual is tough because you have to

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Speaker 1: try to maintain students attention for longer periods of time times,

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Speaker 1: and with little ones, it's hard to maintain their attention

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Speaker 1: for more than thirty minutes sometimes on virtual even as

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Speaker 1: a therapist, conducting therapy sessions for an hour can be challenging.

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Speaker 1: So you have to try to work with them and

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Speaker 1: trying to keep them engaged by creating activity or being

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Speaker 1: really creative as a teacher or even a therapist to

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Speaker 1: make sure that they are fully attentive. So students can

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Speaker 1: get up out their seats. Students could walk off, dudents

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Speaker 1: could have supplies toys with them, and a lot of

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Speaker 1: times with kids, they'll want to show you things. It's

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Speaker 1: like a show and tell, like every other couple of minutes.

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Speaker 1: So you kind of have to keep them engaged as

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Speaker 1: much as possible. And have you seen any changes in

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Speaker 1: terms of like an increase or a decrease in anxiety

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Speaker 1: related to schooling? Virtually, yes, I have, because students don't

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Speaker 1: feel properly prepared because with COVID happening, school has been

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Speaker 1: out of wax. School schedules can change, you know, at

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Speaker 1: a drop of the dimes. A lot of students are

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Speaker 1: missing school, whether they've contracted COVID or someone in their

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Speaker 1: house have, so they do not feel completely prepared. And

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Speaker 1: so I do have students who complain about having an

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Speaker 1: increased anxiety because they don't feel capable. Their resilience is impacted,

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Speaker 1: so they don't feel like they're able to achieve certain

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Speaker 1: educational goals. They're unable to kind of get the help

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Speaker 1: that they need because either they're not in school completely

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Speaker 1: or their teachers are very busy. Because now that the

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Speaker 1: teachers schedules are just very intense during this time. Is

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Speaker 1: test anxiety something that is properly recognized or diagnosed or

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Speaker 1: do you feel like it sometimes goes under the radar? Well,

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Speaker 1: I tend to feel like working as a school based

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Speaker 1: therapist before in the past and also a school counselor,

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Speaker 1: in my experience, I don't feel like test anxiety is

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Speaker 1: properly diagnosed because sometimes it comes up as like a

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Speaker 1: lot of the issues that we see with students is

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Speaker 1: presented as behavioral issues, and we sometimes don't do our

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Speaker 1: due diligence and trying to find out the root of

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Speaker 1: the issue, the cause of the behavioral issues that's presented.

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Speaker 1: So tests anxiety can go misdiagnose a lot of times,

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Speaker 1: and it could be seen as the students just having

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Speaker 1: a conduct disorder or maybe just having some other challenges

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Speaker 1: that doesn't have anything to do with test anxiety, so

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Speaker 1: that could be confusing. As a therapist, my job a

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Speaker 1: lot of time was to explain to our parents what

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Speaker 1: test anxiety is and what anxiety is in general, so

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Speaker 1: that we could do a better job of being aware

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Speaker 1: and also identifying those symptoms and triggers so that we

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Speaker 1: can work on strategies to reduce them. Mm hmmm, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you shared that. Can you say a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about like what those conversations with parents look like,

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Speaker 1: and like what kind of cover decasions should parents be

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Speaker 1: having with their children about healthy like academic performance. So

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Speaker 1: a lot of times I love educating my parents about

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Speaker 1: mental health in general. So test anxiety when you're talking

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Speaker 1: to parents is a form of anxiety that is always

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Speaker 1: good to educate them on, just so that they know

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Speaker 1: what to expect and how to mitigate those issues so

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Speaker 1: that children can have a much successful educational journey. The

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Speaker 1: earlier the better. So I try to first talk about

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Speaker 1: things that I've observed and try to educate them on

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Speaker 1: general symptoms to try to normalize the issue, because a

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Speaker 1: lot of students may encounter some of the similar symptoms

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Speaker 1: like test anxiety, especially for my little ones if they're

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Speaker 1: just starting to learn how to take a test and

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Speaker 1: they want to do really well, but sometimes they feel

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Speaker 1: discouraged if they failed before or they're not getting the

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Speaker 1: feedback that they feel like they deserve. So we kind

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Speaker 1: of work with our parents to develop those strategies to

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Speaker 1: help students feel resilient, to help them feel confident, and

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Speaker 1: let them know like, as long as they're properly preparing

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Speaker 1: for the test and they do the best day they can,

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Speaker 1: that they could push through. Mm hmmm, So what does

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Speaker 1: that look like? How do we help our children to

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Speaker 1: learn how to take tis? So I would try to

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Speaker 1: do at least like five tips, which is eating a

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Speaker 1: good breakfast, which is always good, and we wake up

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Speaker 1: making sure that you get a full breakfast, getting a

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Speaker 1: good amount of sleep. A lot of our kids sleep

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Speaker 1: very late. They go to sleep at like twelve and

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Speaker 1: then they have to wake up at six o'clock in

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Speaker 1: the morning, practicing those daily affirmations, being in connection with

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Speaker 1: the school counselor, so that if there is an issue,

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Speaker 1: the school counselor is able to intervene and provide additional strategies,

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Speaker 1: doing some deep breathing skills, and making sure that their

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Speaker 1: parents are also involved. I always encourage my parents to

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Speaker 1: have conversations with their kids after school, making sure you're

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Speaker 1: discussing like highs and loves. What are some things that

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Speaker 1: happen in school that work for you today? What are

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Speaker 1: some things that you felt were challenging, So that you

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Speaker 1: can allow students to share what their experiences were like,

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Speaker 1: and if they're anything you can do as a parent

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Speaker 1: to kind of step in and provide the necessary support.

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Speaker 1: More from my conversation with Diane after the break. So

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Speaker 1: the tips would you have for parents around like setting

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Speaker 1: the balance right because I think sometimes test anxiety comes

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Speaker 1: from parents and caregivers putting a lot of pressure on

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Speaker 1: kids to do perfectly on tests, right, like, and you know,

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Speaker 1: of course you want your students to do well. I

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Speaker 1: do feel like there has to be a balance. So

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Speaker 1: how do you strike the balance between encouraging them to

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Speaker 1: do well but not you know, making them anxious about

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Speaker 1: taking a test and having that show up as test anxiety.

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Speaker 1: I encouraged my starents to do what they can to

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Speaker 1: get to know their kids, to know what level they

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Speaker 1: are actually are at, to see if they are at

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Speaker 1: a low level, then they have difficulty mastering a certain

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Speaker 1: educational skill that they provide them with tutoring, actual support

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Speaker 1: so they feel properly prepared. Because the more prepared you

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Speaker 1: are as a student, the more confident you'll be able

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Speaker 1: to be in taking the test. So I think that

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Speaker 1: parents having that knowledge to know, like, you know, be supportive,

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Speaker 1: make sure that you know what's going on with them.

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Speaker 1: Know what type of learner your child is. Some students

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Speaker 1: do well with visual learning techniques, some are more traditional.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's different ways a child can learn, and

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Speaker 1: you can support your child in the areas that they

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Speaker 1: are performing well in so that you know how to

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Speaker 1: kind of mitigate those issues. So you ready started talking

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Speaker 1: a little bit about like the way anxiety might transition

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Speaker 1: in college, but I love for you to say more

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Speaker 1: about you know, like maybe if students have struggled with

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Speaker 1: test anxiety in middle school, high school, how might it

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Speaker 1: look different in college? Or I think sometimes you know,

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Speaker 1: having worked on college campuses myself before, you will see

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Speaker 1: the beginning of test anxiety in college that they did

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Speaker 1: not have even before crime to college. So can you

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about how anxiety and test anxiety

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Speaker 1: specifically might show up in college. A test anside of

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Speaker 1: might show up and caused by you know, with students

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Speaker 1: the migraines before the test, feeling like they have to

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Speaker 1: self medicate to reduce some of that anxiety. That level

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Speaker 1: of worriiness is so increased that they often self diagnosed

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Speaker 1: or think it's something else, And it's typically around the

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Speaker 1: weeks leading up or the times around them taking the test. Actually,

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Speaker 1: so I would say it's more like physical symptoms and

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Speaker 1: feeling inadequate. Those negative thoughts are increased a lot more

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Speaker 1: middle school students, younger kids. It's usually like behavioral. Got it, okay?

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Speaker 1: But there are other resources that typically exist on college

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Speaker 1: campuses for students to support them academically. There are tutors

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Speaker 1: on campus that you can connect with. You can always

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Speaker 1: contact your professors. I mean this is an example. For

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Speaker 1: students who need help with writing, there's usually writing labs.

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Speaker 1: Their different departments have different tutoring clubs or organizations that

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Speaker 1: would help students with whatever challenges that they're experiencing. You

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Speaker 1: could also talk to the upper classmen and get connected

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Speaker 1: with the students who probably are in your major, who's

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Speaker 1: probably been there before, have they experience, and could guide

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Speaker 1: you on the right path. Got it. But I think

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Speaker 1: another thing that comes up that can lead to some

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Speaker 1: test anxiety and other anxiety as it relates to college

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Speaker 1: is parents having these expectations about what your major should

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Speaker 1: be and or I want you to be the first

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Speaker 1: doctor in the family and all of these things. Can

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Speaker 1: you say a little bit more about how parents can

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Speaker 1: really support their college to in doing well academically but

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Speaker 1: also fostering a sense of independence as it relates to

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Speaker 1: their future. You know, but as a parent, building that

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Speaker 1: self autonomy is so important within our children. Making sure

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Speaker 1: that our children are confident in the decisions that they're making,

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Speaker 1: especially around identity. Identity is so important and a lot

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Speaker 1: of times during that college transition phase, students are developing

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Speaker 1: their sense of self and they need to feel confident

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Speaker 1: in doing so so that they are much more confident

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Speaker 1: when they're going out in the world. So being supportive

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Speaker 1: parent and really understanding allowing them to kind of let

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Speaker 1: them tell you who they are, what they want to be,

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Speaker 1: and guiding them through that process. Maybe as a parent

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Speaker 1: we won't agree with everything, but if your kid is

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Speaker 1: really showing like strategic, structured ideas, finding ways to add

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Speaker 1: to that support so that they can achieve their goals

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Speaker 1: would be important because we don't want to discourage them,

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Speaker 1: even if it's something that is totally different from what

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Speaker 1: we've expected. Maybe it is something that they could do

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Speaker 1: completely well in and at something new. I'm from a

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Speaker 1: family of patient immigrants, so if it's not something like

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Speaker 1: a lawyer doctor, I totally understand that. The whole idea

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Speaker 1: of being very stringent on certain fields to go into

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Speaker 1: as a child, and I wanted to be in psychology,

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Speaker 1: my parents were like, what was that? But reassuring my

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Speaker 1: mom that I had an actual plan and I knew

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Speaker 1: this is something that I was passionate about, and I

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Speaker 1: was involved in school, I was involved in organizations and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that to reassured them that I knew what

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Speaker 1: I was doing. So are there any physical or digital

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Speaker 1: tools or resources that you find yourself suggesting or that

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Speaker 1: parents or students might want to look at that might

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Speaker 1: help with test anxiety. Well, I've always recommended the Calm app.

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Speaker 1: The camm app is really good, and I have a

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Speaker 1: friend of mine, she's a black woman who created another

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Speaker 1: app for just mindfulness meditation app it's called Drift, So

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Speaker 1: I've also recommended that, and also just any music. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: music has helped in decreasing some of those anxiety symptoms

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Speaker 1: because you really relate in music and I love using

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Speaker 1: music in my sessions. Sometimes when we're doing therapeutic activities.

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Speaker 1: I'll use like common music to kind of help ease

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Speaker 1: the stress of wariness and stuff like that. So music,

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Speaker 1: the calm app, there's Drift. There's so many other apps

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Speaker 1: that you can use, even Cahoo Cahoo which is an

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Speaker 1: online tool, but it also is there's an app to it,

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Speaker 1: and you could use that to practice some skills before

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Speaker 1: you take the test. And it's a fun, engaging tool

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Speaker 1: that you can use to practice and you can develop

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Speaker 1: questions yourself. Those are really good activity tools that you

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Speaker 1: can use. Yeah, are there other games? I mean, I

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Speaker 1: think who You're Right could be used for like test taking,

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Speaker 1: like let's practice some of the stuff that we're learning,

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Speaker 1: but also could be just like a fun trivia kind

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Speaker 1: of thing, right, because you mentioned a couple of times

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Speaker 1: like really getting to know your kids and like spending

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Speaker 1: time with them, and I think that could be a

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Speaker 1: good way to do that. Are there other games used

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Speaker 1: to suggest for parents and caregivers to really help them

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Speaker 1: to maybe connect better with their children. Yes, The un

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Speaker 1: Gained Board Game. I don't know if you've heard it,

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Speaker 1: it's on Amazon. That's a really good tool because the

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Speaker 1: un Gained Board Game, it's a board game that really

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Speaker 1: helps you build communication skills. Anyone who plays a game,

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Speaker 1: you have to allow the person the opportunity to fully

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Speaker 1: state their answers without interruptions. So it's teaching you like

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Speaker 1: communications techniques, and it's also teaching you how to listen

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Speaker 1: to each other. And there's appropriate times where you can

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Speaker 1: use follow up questions and just engage with your family

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Speaker 1: throughout the game. So I really like the gained tools.

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Speaker 1: I really liked this game called Choices. This is another

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Speaker 1: activity that I've work with my kids on and it's

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Speaker 1: really learning how to build value systems and knowing how

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Speaker 1: to make certain choices and practice that self autonomy which

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Speaker 1: is important for confident building. God, thank you for that.

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Speaker 1: You've also mentioned the importance of affirmations and how that

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Speaker 1: can help to manage anxiety. Are there any resources you

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Speaker 1: suggest for that. One affirmation that I would share for

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Speaker 1: students dealing with test anxiety is I am capable and

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Speaker 1: I have prepared and I could try my best. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for that. So what do you wish people knew

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Speaker 1: more about as it is related to academic achievement and anxiety.

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Speaker 1: I wish that students knew that they are able to

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Speaker 1: overcome it. You know, test anxiety is something that you

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Speaker 1: go through as a student sometimes, but it's not something

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Speaker 1: that is permanent. You're able to overcome it. You're able

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Speaker 1: to be resilient and push through even though you feel

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Speaker 1: a little anxious about passing to test, and the practice

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Speaker 1: makes perfect. The more you're prepared, you're able to overcome

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Speaker 1: those symptoms. By practicing those strategies, coping strategies, you'll do better.

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Speaker 1: And where can we follow you and support your work? Diane?

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Speaker 1: What's your website as well as any social media handles

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Speaker 1: you'd like to share? Sure you are able to follow

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Speaker 1: me on I G and my handle is at a

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Speaker 1: lightning Q and also my website is enlightening q dot com. Perfect.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much,

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Speaker 1: Dr Joy, I appreciate you having me on. I'm so

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Speaker 1: glad Diane was able to share her expertise with us today.

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Speaker 1: To learn more about her and her work, be sure

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Speaker 1: to visit the show notes at Therapy for Black Girls

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Speaker 1: dot com slash test anxiety, and be sure to text

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Speaker 1: two of your girls right now and ask them to

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Speaker 1: check out the episode as well. If you're looking for

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Speaker 1: a therapist in your area. Be sure to check out

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Speaker 1: our therapist directory at Therapy for Black Girls dot com

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Speaker 1: slash directory. And if you want to continue digging into

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Speaker 1: this topic or just be in community with other sisters,

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Speaker 1: come on over and join us in the Sister Circle.

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Speaker 1: It's our cozy corner of the Internet designed just for

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Speaker 1: black women. You can join us at Community not Therapy

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Speaker 1: for Black Girls dot com. This episode was produced by

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Speaker 1: Freda Lucas and Alice Ellis and editing was done by

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Speaker 1: Dennis and Bradford. Thank you all so much for joining

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Speaker 1: me again this week. I look forward to continuing this

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Speaker 1: conversation with you all real soon. Take it care