We are taught from an early age that in order to lead a successful and comfortable lifestyle we must work hard and do well in school. We hear this sentiment from grade school into our secondary education. Students are taught that the level of success they will have is linked to how well they apply themselves in school, and it echoes in the minds of college students because this is where it counts the most. How well a student preforms in their undergraduate career affects their ability to move forth in their education, especially in the fields that require graduate degrees. How far one goes in their post secondary education determines many factors, like salary, type of lifestyle, etc. The pressure and the expectation to do well seems insurmountable at times, having to balance school, work, and a social life. Students often take more than the necessary 12 units a semester to expedite this process due to the extremely high cost of education, thus making the workload per semester heavier, which in turn affects the students well being and overall physical health. This academic blog will explore the stressors of a heavy school load and the effect it has on the mental health of the American student.
Mental illness among students has been a major interest of mine because as a lifelong student, I have faced the chronic stress, anxiety, and the diminishing of my mental and physical health due to overwhelming courses.* At my high school, the curricula was similar to college, with each class bearing the weight of 2 “normal” high school courses, and I had 5 of those classes all together. With each major project, I witnessed an extreme decline in my physical health, a weakening in my immune system, and a compromise in my mental state. I was under chronic stress trying to complete the necessary assignments to be that perfect 4.0 student. I’m grateful for my high school putting us through so much pain and pressure because what did you know? College for me would be the same exact way. My first semester of college was pretty enjoyable. I had courses that were a little difficult but not too much to manage, but with the stress of finals, came the sicknesses that were expected when you put your body through turmoil. The second semester was when I hit a wall, I became severely depressed. I lost a lot of weight and was unhappy with everything that had to do with school. I dwindled away so much that my perception of time was nonexistent. I didn’t even know what day it was, all I knew was that it was another grueling day of classes for me. I was having night terrors and extremely vivid stress dreams that would keep me awake, thus losing sleep. I wanted to dropout. I was done with it all.
As students, we don’t take the time to notice this decline in our physical and mental health. We just accept things as normal and continue to persevere through it all. Little do we address our emotions that we have suppressed the whole semester until something sets us off, and we have a mental breakdown or become ill. Yes, we do have counselors and workshops on campus that could help us manage our stress, but few students know where to seek that type of help. Rarely do we ever have time to recoup from classes that carry a heavy burden on our shoulders. In a New York Times article written by Julie Scelfo called Answers About Campus Depression and Suicide Risk Among College Students, she states “Depression is a significant risk-factor, but it is only one. Environmental factors such as stressful life events, access to firearms and others play a role” (Julie Scelfo, 2015). Research is varied on what age students are beginning this cycle of emotions and when they resort to suicide because they feel that is the only way out of this rollercoaster of emotions while enrolled in academic institutions. Failure to address mental illness that many students, whether diagnosed or not, deal with does affect not only their mental and physical wellbeing, but also their performance skills in their academic courses. More students need to voice their opinions on the amount of course work each class requires per semester because in reality, we are paying for a degree and an education, not prolonged health problems.
Not only do we push ourselves to the brink of exhaustion, fatigue, and unhappiness while trying to catch up in classes, we deal with negative thoughts about our performance skills, comparing our lives to our peers’. *The pressure of being this perfect well-rounded student with excellent grades, an active social life, and money in the bank is a stretch that students desperately try to get to.* If a student doesn’t fit the stereotypical college student binary, a student feels they aren’t living life correctly. Julie Scelfo writes in a similar New York Times article called Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection describes the many lives lost at institutions all over the United States, starting with the root of the problem, which starts at home.
Expectations were high. Every day at 5 p.m. test scores and updated grades were posted online. Her mother would be the first to comment should her grade go down. “I would get home from track and she would say, ‘I see your grade dropped.’ I would say, ‘Mom, I think it’s a mistake.’ And she would say, ‘That’s what I thought!’ (The reason turned out to be typing errors. Ms. DeWitt graduated with straight A’s.)
The story follows a girl who is a spectacular student with exceptional grades, and seems to have it all together on the outside. She was only happy when others’ academic needs were met and in this case it was her parents’ needs and wants that she needed to fulfill. In the end, after battling self-harm for many years prior to attending her dream college she recognized that her in order to live a pleasant life she had to live for herself. She was content with not being the flawless daughter her parents wanted, as she now openly identified as LGBTQ+, wasn’t a straight A student, and still managed to make it out alive. She now is an advocate for students with mental illness and LGBTQ+ Christian members of her college. Students strain themselves pleasing their parents because after all, they put them on this planet, but their negative impact on their children’s self-perception bleeds into everything they do.
Students blindly take on a course load with a positive attitude saying “well I made it through last semester!” not understanding how much too much is to their bodies. Still young and thriving, students think they are resistant to the disorders that come with old age, but it’s happening to them right now. Yes, college is beneficial and an important staple in ones lifetime, but we are living too fast. Students are dying from succumbing to dominating circumstances and not having the ability to voice their struggles out of fear. So how much is too much? What is the objective and its worth?
Self-harm and suicide seem to be a defense mechanism among students here in the United States. One has very few trustworthy outlets that can seemingly handle the amount of pain and dissatisfaction that students endure, so the result is self-harm, self-medicating, or worse, suicide.* Julie Scelfo’s earlier article Answers About Campus Depression and Suicide Risk Among College Students, she writes, “The rate of suicide among 15 to 24-year-old males in the United States was 17.3 per 100,000 in 2013, compared with 4.5 among females of the same age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” (2015). The ages between 15 and 24 are extremely stressful because these are important milestones in our lives when our performance skills are measured drastically in order to be admitted into our dream school, enrolled in college, or recently graduated and starting a future. Imagine beginning this cycle of stress, anxiety, and depression from early teen years to as far as graduate school and the negative impact it has on growth and development.
Stigma regarding mental illnesses on campus is one that is extremely high, and students are seen as weak if we do have an “illness”. Depression, anxiety, and stress are illnesses and they affect our academic production when we have a black cloud hanging over our heads. Students need more reliable outlets, and institutions should impose mandatory stress relief workshops at the end of each semester just to show students that there are resources. This one requirement would help alleviate the challenges of pursuing one’s dreams and enhance academic and personal accomplishments for all students.
