Junior Berkeley Cleavinger runs into the stadium bathroom with tear-filled eyes and a fast-beating heart. Trying to catch her breath, she is confused about her feelings. She struggles to calm herself down as her friends surround her, trying to comfort her.

“I had my first panic attack at a football game in the 7th grade,” Cleavinger said. “I was so confused about what was going on, but all I remember is feeling so overwhelmingly anxious.”

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 11% of people in the U.S. have panic attacks. It defines them as a sudden episode of intense fear, anxiety, and physical symptoms, often accompanied by fear of loss of control or dying.

“My anxiety started to get bad in 7th grade, and I felt like after the panic attacks I was having, I needed help,” Cleavinger said. “That’s when I got into therapy to try and figure out ways to deal with my anxiety.”

Therapy significantly helped Cleavinger and gave her tools to help calm herself down when she’s having a panic attack or starting to feel anxious.

”She told me to use my senses, so I would find five things I could see, four things I could hear, three things I could touch, two things I could smell, and one thing I could taste,” Cleavinger said. “That would always distract me and help to calm myself down.”

Cleavinger was also on medication for a few months, but she describes it as making her feel numb and drained.

“I would take the medication twice a day, and it basically just shuts your emotions off,” Cleavinger said. “It also makes you super tired, so I would sleep for 13 to 15 hours a day.”

After a year of taking the medication, Cleavinger stopped it at the end of her 8th-grade year when her anxiety and panic attacks finally started to fizzle.

“Now if I ever start to feel anxious, I start to pray and it helps me realize that everything’s going to be OK,” Cleavinger said.

Cleavinger says that God is what gets her through her struggles with anxiety.

“I know that at the end of the day, God has a perfect plan for the way my life is going to go,” Cleavinger said. “Also, yes, medication helps, and yes, therapy helps, but when it comes down to it, anxiety is a you vs. you battle, but once you figure out how to deal with it, you realize that God’s got you.”