Exam tension fever hits HSC students Anahita Mukherji , TNN, Feb 19, 2011

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Exam-tension-fever-hits-HSC-students/articleshow/7524334.cms


Exam tension fever hits HSC students
Anahita Mukherji , TNN, Feb 19, 2011, 05.31am IST
Article


MUMBAI: With HSC examinations scheduled to begin on Tuesday, general practitioners across the city are being inundated with calls from worried parents, whose children are suffering from stress. This kind of stress can plague both body and mind. From fainting and nausea to back and neck pain, students gearing up for their board examinations have begun exhibiting a whole range of physical ailments. More often than not, their medical reports, however, show they are in perfect health.

Now, many doctors have begun referring final-year students suffering from examination stress to psychiatrists and counsellors. There is a whole branch of psychology that deals with pain disorders. "There have been cases where students are admitted to hospital with severe pain, but their reports show that there is nothing wrong with them physically,'' says clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany. She recently treated a student with a learning disability, who was so afraid of sitting for the board examinations, that she developed severe pain in her limbs. Her orthopaedic doctor gave her a clean bill of health. But when her symptoms continued, she was referred for psychological treatment.

During this exam period, Hingorrany receives calls from many parents who are worried about their children's coping mechanisms. One child kept suffering from fainting cells due to the stress, she said. Other symptoms include vomiting and stomach pain. It's also not uncommon for students to complain of "ankle pain", which doctors say can be entirely psychosomatic.

Around exam time, development paediatrician Dr Samir Dalwai observes a rise in immunologically-mediated diseases such as asthma as well as skin allergies. Counsellor Sonal Sethna has seen students with palpitation, skin rashes as well as digestive problems. Psychiatrists have also found students turning into hypochondriacs during the examination season. "I recently treated a boy who suffered from severe vomiting and told me he thought he had stomach cancer. He had read somewhere that stomach tumours cause vomiting,'' said Hingorrany.

Dr Harish Shetty, president of the Counsellor's Association of India, says that symptoms such as headaches, nausea and vomiting are seen in students of all ages appearing for any examination. "At times, exam-related stress aggravates existing physical ailments. The somatic symptoms vanish when the feelings are verbalized. Sometimes depression manifests itself in the form of aches and pains,'' he said.

Counsellors and teachers have urged parents not to burden their children with their own stress and anxiety. Hingorrany feels that such physical symptoms are often found in the children of overly anxious mothers, many of whom suffered similar physical ailments when they themselves were young.

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