Maria faces the world after the pandemic (PORTO-02-EN)

Maria, 21 years old, is a college student. She lives with her parents and grandparents.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, she was in total isolation, refusing to leave her house, even for tasks that were allowed, such as shopping for essentials or walking a pet. When the mandatory confinement ended, the simple idea of returning to classes made her deeply anxious.

Since then, she could not imagine getting on public transportation again, or even being in a room full of classmates. She was afraid of being infected and possibly transmitting the virus, especially to her grandparents.

She decided only to attend the practical classes because they were mandatory and because there were fewer students present, but she would come up with all sorts of excuses to skip classes whenever she started to feel more anxious.

In this class, she decided to face her own anxiety and did not leave the classroom when it started to rise, but the situation quickly got out of her control. She felt paralysed and, as if she was in a film, everything seemed unreal and distant. Her heart and breathing rates increased dramatically and she turned pale.

Through the observation of Maria’s non-verbal behaviour, the teacher recognised the symptoms of increasing anxiety;

He took a class break to reduce the number of students present, and public exposure. He asked the students’ representative to call a staff member and to return to class and stay in the room;

He asked Maria if she had any known respiratory problems, such as asthma or some other clinical condition. After she nodded no, he gave her a paper bag and instructions to breathe into it and follow his instructions.

He told her to focus on the sensations of touching the fabric of her clothes and to feel and describe the textures.

When the symptoms subsided, he suggested that she leave the room accompanied by the students’ representative and the staff member and wait in a separate room.

He told her that he would be available to speak with her at the end of the class or at another time if she wanted to.

He explained that he had experienced this situation before with other students and that there are strategies that she can learn, and college resources that could help her.