could trigger

I'm not sure what to do. I'm in a class that I am required to take to graduate and we are talking about rape. It makes me nervous and I start to shake in class and I'm worried I'm going to have a panic attack in class. I know I could probably talk to the teacher and get out of this part of class...but I really want to put some input into the discussions...maybe to help people understand and be less ignorant...but I hate induring this. What should I do?