Any teachers here with anxiety/depression?

I know there are teachers on here with this I am sure they will check in soon.

Yes, teaching is higly stressful. I am thinking about quitting, but my mom says to wait or at least have a plan in place. So, I need a plan 1st, but this teaching, I can't go on with this. This is where I am getting the anxiety and depression to begin with, and it's making it worse. I wish I could just not show up, I would feel much better.

Then I have to listen to the kids make snide comments- I had one ask where I was the day I went to the doctor and I was like that is none of your buisness and he was like you should have stayed where you were. I know it was childish, but I told him I would if I could have. I can't take abuse frome mere children. I could have written him up, but the last time I wrote someone up for saying "Ms. M____, you make me sick" Nothing happened to him. Stuff like that makes me want to quit without giving any sort of warning and go back to school so i don't have to put up with other people's bad a*& kids.

I have made plans to start graduate school in January. The deadline for my paper work is December 5th, so I have to hurry. I just pray I don't quit today. I am trying to hold out until December, but I doubt I can.

Hey, just stumbled into these boards while doing some research.

I taught for 4 years (university writing programs) and fianlly made a career change because of a major anxiety/depression episode. (I'm still "teaching" but am working as a training consultant which is a better fit for me than traditional classroom teaching) It can be so overwhelming.

One thing I realized was that even though you are surrounded by people, you can often feel very isolated because you are always "on stage" wtih students. Even more than in other work environments, there is a huge divide between your work self and your real self and maintaining this distance is exhausting, especially when your dealing with a mood disorder (you have to be wonder woman or the students will eat you alive!). And, then you look around at your colleagues and wonder how everyone else seems to be able to handle it and still have time to win teacher-of-the-year awards

Another challenge is that often you are the center of the classroom universe... i call it the deathstar theory...if the teacher falls apart or drops the ball (you blow up the deathstar) the entire classroom (Empire) falls apart... the reality of that can cause or severly aggrivate anxiety....and then your inability to focus make you dropp more balls...and then... oh the cycle of stress!

The hardest part was realizing that teaching was a huge part of the problem (not the only cause, but a big one). I LOVE teaching.I am REALLY GOOD at it... I LOVED my students...etc. and I was so excited to find a job doing what i loved after grad school.... but, i had to start to see what parts of teaching were unhealthy for me

The best advice I can give you is to leverage all of your resources.

Hopefully you have a principal or advisor you can trust and explain a little of what you are going through and get some support in the classroom...especially with all of the grading and constant prep teaching required. Find out about the possibilities of a leave of absense (even a week can make a big difference), extra help with prep and grading (just having someone else around to work through the piles of paper can help keep the overwhelming anxiety at bay). And, you can aleviate the additional stress of feeling like you are not meeting your professional obligations... if nothing else, they will know you are wanting to leave and help with the transition

Find a doctor who will help you find the best treatments (I opted out of medications after one unsuccessfull run and found HUGE relief with amino acid therapy; cognitive-behavior therapy mix with some more traditional talk therapy, etc.)

And, most importantly, give yourself permission to drop the ball here an there and NOT do all the millions of things you feel like you HAVE to do.... give the kids some worksheets, take an extra week to return grading, creat lessons where the kids come up with ideas or work in groups and then present materials so you don't have to do it all...

Ok... hope this helps a little.... hang in there... and know you're not the only one who's gone through this (i know it doesn't make it easier, but at least you are not alone!)

I am a twenty year veteran of teaching and a long time veteran of anxiety and depression. I love teaching. I love being a teacher. But education has changed so much over the years. It used to be teachers were treated with utmost respect and the profession was one of honor. It certainly has fallen down the ladder. The pressure of accountability, poor test scores, lack of facilities, parental support,  student apathy and last but not least POLITICS make the job tough. But I still get up in the morning looking to the good parts of the day. It was in my fourth year of teaching when I had my first real bad "anxiety state."  It has been up and down from there. I have been on meds for the past ten years to handle the stress. I have also sought counseling. The past five years I have worked under the superintendent from hell. It has been pretty stressful and trust me, many of us, though very few, will admit they have suffered through depression and anxiety. The successes outweigh the failures. I look forward to my kids, but I do not look forward to the red tape and naive parents. I am a perfectionist which doesn't help. I have learned to try to set some issues out of my control aside, realize I am in a high stress, demanding job. Is it easy? Absolutely not! But I am in a serving profession. I would suggest hanging in teaching a little while longer. Coping skills come with experience and personal satisfaction will find it's way and the job will have it's reward. My brothter, who is a teacher, has gone through tough times to. We teach because we think we can make a difference. I have lost some kids through the cracks but I know I have made a difference. I have concerns we are enabling kids to much with all the technology. I have concerns that our future adults will not have the "mental toughness" they need to be in the real world. That  is the coach in me talking now. My advice, don't get out of the profession to early. You could be one of the great teachers in time. It is discouraging at times, especially early in your career. But it gets better, rewarding and really enjoyble. Even through the negatives. I do have a great principal who I almost worship. She is the most realistic understanding principal I have ever worked for and that has been good for my morale. Look at it this way. We are in one of the toughest professions in the world.

Teaching, in general, adds a deeper dimension to my life and whenever I am done with it I feel it added more to my life.

However, it is usually good at the beginning of semester, but as soon as it gets serious, I start thinking about everything that goes on in classes and every tired look or unrelated comment, every laugh or bored gesture mean that I am not knowledgeable enough. I often question my knowledge and qualities as a teacher, and keep comparing myself to my colleagues in my head. I am always scared that I am teaching students less and they take less from my classes and teachings. When students answer my questions I am afraid that I don't connect it to the subject as well as other teachers. I am scared that I don't know how to form a helpful and educational discussion. My fear always makes it difficult for me to ask constructive questions and lead a good discussion. Comments are usually open ended and they lead nowhere. The fear of something bigger which I don't really know what it is always make me quiet the students and make them more passive during classes. I prefer lecturing because you go on uninterrupted and give them information, but again it makes them bored too quickly.

I wish there was a class to practically teach me how to teach, how to form a good classroom discussion. Where are we supposed to learn all these? The tricky part about this job is that it plays on your personal fears and make something which is not totally your fault look like your fault. Thanks for reading.