Mental health issues among university students presents a growing health concern to university’s. Higher education is a stressful period in person’s life in which they need to cope with due to various reasons such as living away from family and a heavy schedule. While a healthy mind is key for success, a mentally fit student can create proper social relationships and is enthusiastic to learn with ambition to implement their plans in the future. Students in a university are at a crucial stage of development as they are more subjected to experience mental illnesses. Depression and anxiety are common, serious, and debilitating mental health problems that are affecting the student population. With the media focused on the rising number of suicides on college campuses, there is a desperate need to understand what can be done to prevent serious emotional and mental health problems among students.
The most common psychological problems of college students is depression, anxiety and stress. Today, depression is one of the most serious issues in the world. Many sources show that about 1 in every 5 university students have anxiety or depression. Though, before examining the extent of depression and anxiety among college students, it’s important to understand what these are. An article written by the Mental Health Foundation describes Depression as such:
A common mental disorder that causes people to experience depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. Depression is different from feeling down or sad…A person experiencing depression will experience intense emotions of anxiety, hopelessness, negativity and helplessness, and the feelings stay with them instead of going away (CITE).
As you can imagine these symptoms are very difficult to handle. Especially for a university student where energy, focus, and concentration are extremely important for proficiency in their school work. In addition to depression many students experience anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about a sudden event or something with an uncertain outcome. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can even get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with day to day activities such as job performance, school, work, and relationships. Some symptoms of depression and anxiety overlap, such as problems with sleep, irritability, and difficulty concentrating. It’s important to study them both because depression and anxiety often occur at the same time. In most cases people with either anxiety or depression have the other condition along with it.
It’s extremely important for a university or any other higher education to acknowledge and provide the assistance needed for students dealing with these types of mental health issues. Depression and Anxiety have many effects on a students life including academic performance. A study conducted by a group of medical students at the University of Michigan and Harvard found that Depression itself resulted in a 0.17 drop in GPA , and a 0.40 drop, nearly half a letter grade, when anxiety was present along with depression (CITE). Even though these things can affect grade point average, in some cases students are highly functioning depression victims. Meaning it may not show any signs of affects in academic performance. But it can also affect the social lives of students These issues affect a student’s interpersonal skills and can affect their ability to function on a day-to-day basis. An article written by the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information quotes:
Evidence does, indeed, suggest that depressed people often fail in their quest to satisfy their need for belonging in relationships, with potentially severe consequences. Depressed people report fewer intimate relationships, and elicit fewer positive, caring responses and more negative, rejecting responses from others. Depressed people also appear to induce negative affect in others, which, in turn, elicits rejection and the loss of socially rewarding opportunities (CITE).
What you do in school affects what you will be doing the rest of your life, your future. That is why it’s so important not only to do well academically but also socially. You want to be able to make friends and have the skills to be successful in the years after college It’s the whole journey that you are paying thousands of dollars for and depression and anxiety can have the authority to take that from you. As a student Faculty and staff may be one of the first resources of outreach for a student who has a mental health issue. Some sort of support system is essential to give a helping hand to students.
Now, this brings up a question. Why don’t these people just get help? In addition to the affects mental health problem itself, the stigma around depression and anxiety has resulted in a large portion of victims to avoid seeking help altogether, among many other reasons why people don’t even consider seeking help. A study was conducted by a University in Australia about the reasons as to why people did not seek help when experiencing mental health problems. Some of the reasons young people experienced as barriers were. Negative experiences from seeking help in the past deterred people from seeking help and also negative beliefs about seeking professional help (Rickwood, p.g.16-17). Embarrassment when talking about problems (Rickwood, p.g.17). Feeling they can seek the appropriate help that they need from family and friends instead of a professional (Rickwoo, p.g.17). A lack of emotional competence – the inability to recognise or identify and describe emotions, to understand emotions or the ability to manage emotions in an effective manner (Rickwood, p.g. 13). Media representations in of loopy psychiatrists (Rickwood, p.g.18) turns people off from going or knowing what to expect when they do seek help. Parents thinking help seeking was too expensive or do not have mental health literacy themselves (Rickwood, p.g.18). These are just some of the possible reasons that some may not seek help. Colleges around the nation should be more open and concerned about mental health. Some schools have been making great strides to destigmatize the idea around mental health issues. The University of Michigan opened the very first depression center on campus. The center is the first of its kind devoted entirely to bringing depression into the mainstream of medical research, translational care, education, and public policy. The Center is at the forefront in changing the paradigm of how depression and bipolar illnesses are understood and treated (CITE). Here at WMU, the Sindecuse Health center does a great job of normalizing mental health issues with presentations and making sure students know the services provided. Free counseling is provided at the health center for a number of situations. You can schedule an appointment or walk in appointments are allowed as well. Though just because these examples have good outlets for support doesn’t mean every school does.