Anxiety & Depression: ChallengesAnxiety and depression can be caused by many things, including abuse, bullying, concerns about academic performance or social relationships, death of a loved one, dysfunctional family relationships, financial stress, major life changes or stresses, special needs, and trauma. Consequently, learners who experience anxiety and depression often need a multi-faceted set of supports to ensure their success. Such supports will be most effective when they address the root causes of the anxiety and depression, rather than just the symptoms.
Strategies that explicitly teach and model physical self-care, provide social and emotional support, and encourage healthy thinking patterns are likely to be particularly helpful to these learners. Students should be encouraged to persevere in trying a variety of healthy coping strategies until they learn what works best themselves, especially for the areas noted below (each of which could become the foundation for a language learning unit, lesson, or activity):
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