The Rising Problems Of Mental Health on College Campuses
Mental health in college has become a very prominent topic as of late because of the rising percentage of students with mental health issues. According to “A 2017 survey by the American College Health Association revealed that about 61 percent of students had experienced “overwhelming anxiety” within the previous year, up from 51 percent in 2011. “ (Sadick, 2018). The issue that I have concerns with is how the colleges are dealing with the influx of students that need help. With more and more students having these issues it is going to be hard to accommodate to everyone, and this is where the colleges have to take responsibility. As a college student we are in this stage of life where we are first exposed to what balancing school, work, relationships, and others various things are about. This is a huge transition that can greatly affect you mentally. An overlooked problem among college campuses is the seriousness in which they look at mental health issues. There has been a steady increase of students across campuses with mental health issues and is only going to uprise if more awareness is not raised in a serious manner. On all college campuses there is help, but I do not think it is spread throughout the campus in the most efficient and serious way. The lack of spreading awareness is a huge problem and to resolve or positively change this the student body needs to see an increased effort into raising awareness from the colleges. The goal in all of this is to have mental health issues not looked upon lightly anymore and to help students before these issues get more serious. Mental Health is not taken as seriously because it is not a physical issue that people can see; thus, students with this illness are often forced to deal with these problems without any support and raising more awareness such as creating events or booths dedicated to the topic of mental health can help students deal with their issues.
I have noticed that more and more people are speaking out on their struggles, and the topic overall is becoming more prevalent in the college community. “Mental health is a major concern on college campuses around the world. According to new research published by the American Psychological Association, over one-third of first-year college students are impacted.” (Hess, 2018). As you can see, mental health within the college community is among a vast majority and it seems as if it is growing more rapidly. Although we have resources on campus this might not be enough to fulfill the needs of the students. “A 2017 analysis by the center found that roughly half of students who sought counseling in the previous year had some symptoms of depression. Anxiety concerns had affected 62 percent. More than one-third of those seeking help had contemplated suicide at some point in their lifetime.” (Sadick, 2018). It seems as if there are already complications within people’s mental health before they get to college, but it gets progressively worse with the big changes that they have to adjust to.
These mental health issues are not a forever thing and that is what one needs help to realize. I do not think that people understand how common mental health issues are, “Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. It’s not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.” With depression and anxiety there is going to be some repercussions that result because of it and in this case it can affect the success of students in school. ”Students with high levels of psychological distress are less academically successful: they have more test anxiety, lower academic self‐efficacy, and less effective time management and use of study resources (Brackney and Karabenick, 1995).” “Students with higher levels of psychological distress have more difficulty concentrating on their schoolwork; they are less likely to persist when faced with distraction or difficulty. (Brackney and Karabenick 1995).” “Students who receive treatment for depression report substantial gains in academic performance: 31% of students at one university receiving treatment for depression reported an increase in satisfaction with their ability to study/work and 34% of students reported an increased sense of satisfaction with how much school work they can do (Klein, 2010).” Students that struggle with these mental health problems are at a disadvantage in the classroom, and we can see that if we are able to give them some type of treatment than they can have a better chance of succeeding in the classroom. An important thing to consider is knowing when to ask for help. “If you don’t show symptoms than no one will know, if you don’t want to talk about it no one will know. (Lim, 2017)” As humans we can only stay strong for so long and throughout life we are going to encounter times where we are going to need help. This help is only beneficial though if you are willing to reach out for it. Dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression can be tough to seek out help for because it may seem like the weak minded thing to do, but it absolutely is not. It is the first step in finding out how to be yourself once again.
A very important issue that needs to be tackled is how mental health issues play a course in the classroom. For example, if someone breaks their leg they are not going to have to run the mile, but if someone gets anxiety with public speaking they are forced to do it. Students are ridiculed for something that they can not help or control, but it is the way that schools approach these situations that make it seem like mental health is not serious at all. “Mental illnesses challenge students to be fully engaged in the classroom and make it difficult for them to meet academic standards. For instance, a student dealing with a mental-emotional illness may find it difficult to find the motivation to complete daily classwork, homework or class projects.” (Thompson, 2018). Schools need to be much more supportive of the students that have mental health issues, just like they do with students who are injured. They always make sure that they are compromised and it should go both ways on this. A step in the right direction that schools could take is slowing easing students into being comfortable with the tasks that are uncomfortable for them. Going back to the example of the broken foot, if the student with the broken foot is recently cleared they are not going to allow him to just jump right into running, they are going to have him walk the mile instead so that it eases the student into being comfortable once again. This is the same kind of approach that we need in the classroom with these situations because it comforts the students and it will promote a better learning environment for them. This all ties into teaching people how serious the topic of mental health issues really is.
Another, helpful idea that can contribute to raising more awareness with health issues is having programs that can focus on prevention of mental health issues. These certain programs can contain information on what to do if you suffer from such issues. “School-based mental health programs can reach large numbers of children, with increasing evidence of effectiveness in improving mental health and related outcomes, according to a research review in the September/October issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.” (2017). If we are able to incorporate this on campus than more people will know and it can also increase the number of people that want to get help. If we are not taking care of these issues than they could last and become more severe through the upcoming years of life. “…the present meta-analysis suggests child psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are wise to recognize the important role that school personnel, who are naturally in children’s lives, can play in decreasing child mental health problems.” (2017). The peers that students see on a day to day basis can have the most influence on them and that is where we can incorporate mental health lessons that can last a lifetime. The more we learn on mental health, the easier it will be to adjust to the big changes in our lives.
Here on campus at San Francisco State University, I think that they have a great center for their “Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)”. From my experience with them, I can say that they are truly there to listen to you and understand best from their point of view to help you in any way possible. “The mission of Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is to enhance the psychological well being of the entire campus community and thereby facilitate the retention and successful educational experience of students, faculty, and staff.” At these services, they also have these separate groups that you are welcomed to attend to that can help with managing anxiety, learning how to self care, learning how to understand yourself, and recovering from previous trauma just to name a few. I bring these groups up because they are similar to these school based programs that I have talked about in the previous paragraph. They are beneficial because to certain causes and they also can prepare you for the future if something related happens. The more knowledge we have on mental health, the easier it will be to deal with these problems in the future since it is very common. For the CAPS at San Francisco State University, one thing that I dislike about it is that it since it is only general counseling there is only a certain amount of times that you can go within the school year. They also have only so many counselors to tend to the thousands of students here on campus, which can be a little controversial if they are not getting to meet with everyone that needs the help. I think that since there is such an increase in mental health issues, there also needs to be an increase in counselors across all college campuses. There is also an increase of students who use these services towards finals weeks and I think that CAPS makes sure students know they are their for them if they need them during that time. I was just thinking though if CAPS was consistent with the spread of their awareness all throughout the year than they could help students learn how to get through their struggles before they even reach those tough times, like finals weeks. If colleges were making more of an effort to help than I think that students are going to willingly seek out help for themselves. For most colleges, I would only hope that they support their students with mental health issues just as much as everyone else because they are no different.
One last overlying problem among the mental health issues that we have already talked about is that some college’s are not getting the funding needed to help support their students needs. This might be the biggest problem because without money college campuses will not be able to meet the demands of the students since the counseling services will not have the adequate resources. “And since counseling is expensive, some schools are forced to charge students for services. Before Georgetown made changes in its counseling system, Johnson said, appointments cost $85 — often unaffordable for students who didn’t want to use insurance or involve their parents.” (Simon, 2017). If all colleges are not getting the right funding than they are going to have to resort to charging students, which can cause the students who need the help the most to not get help at all because it is no longer easily accessible to them. “Last year, the Legislature budgeted $4.5 million for new mental health programs at community colleges — but only 15 of the state’s 114 colleges will receive the competitive grants of up to $300,000 each.” (Mello, 2018). Although there has been money budgeted for schools it is not getting distributed evenly among them and this is concerning because this is within community colleges. The funding for mental health resources is inadequate for a lot of schools and this issue needs to be fixed if there is going to be any chance of meeting the increasing demands of students with mental health issues.
Overall, I think that raising awareness in the classroom with these school based programs can have just as big of an impact as mental health issue based events and booths that happen outside of the classroom. It has to start where there is a decent amount of influence, and in result it can cause students to be comfortable in school where that could be the most daunting setting for them. The increased awareness will shed the serious light upon mental health issues that has been needed to be done for so long and I think that it will have a positive reaction within the college community because it helps people see that they are not alone through all of their pain and agony. It matters that people know about this topic because it concerns the livelihood of a human being. It opens up our eyes to see that college is much more than just school. For a majority of students in college this is the first time they have to live on their own and you also have to take into account that it might be also be their first time away from friends and family. These types of disconnects combined with the overload of work that we have to do for our classes is bound to create some disorientation within students. The major goal in raising all of this awareness is to help others before it gets too serious. The most important thing to take away is that when you feel like there is nothing you can do to make yourself feel better than you need to reach out for help because it is not the end of the world, but you just need to regain your sense of life once again.
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