Heading off to a university is a thrilling milestone of a student’s life since it`s a time of advancement and learning, but never was this next level education thought to have a negative influence towards these young adults. During this time a higher education, students begin to face new responsibilities and challenges, but unfortunately this exciting time hasn’t been going the way that it’s been expected to. Over the years, university, and college counseling centers have been experiencing a shift in the needs of students seeking counseling services from developmental and informational needs, to psychological problems (Smulson).
The rising issue of mental health problems is increasing as more and more students are becoming accustomed to it. This issue is no longer seen as simple; it’s becoming more complex as a good majority of students are showing signs of helplessness. The road to college may be a bit stressful as it contains a fair amount of stress and demands, but recently the level of stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems are exceeding and it’s becoming a crucial concern.
To be conscious of what mental illness is, one must know what it means. Mental health is the state of our well-being and is solely revolved around the mind. According to Dr. Ranna Parekh, mental health is “A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life” (Parekh). Mental health issues are psychological, behavioral, and emotional disorders that primarily affect the mind. Since there are many types of mental conditions, each one of them should not be avoided. Common types of mental conditions include: depression, anxiety, and stress.
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These mental health issues usually strike individuals during their young adulthood phase. A strong mental health in college is vital to have, and individuals must understand the importance of how much an ill mental health can have on a person. Many students have issues with the inability to manage stress, as they then begin to struggle with overwhelming feelings of anxiety, depression, homesickness, and loneliness. Most college students have bitter experiences in relationships and can’t go through this experience alone. When these students realize that they can’t function the way they thought they could in college, the waves of struggles to hit them all at once.
According to Dr. Jessica Wolf, “When students become overwhelmed with the whole college experience, they don’t know who exactly to turn to in times of need since they no longer have their parents with them to shield them away from life’s problems” (Wolf). Her statement highlights that students still need mentors to help show them the ropes of everything that college has to offer because college life can become very stressful within the first few weeks.
It is important to ensure access to treatment and recovery programs, as early identification and treatment are very important. As a society, the stigma, or disgrace of recognizing that students experience mental health problems has escalated very quickly. Stigma erodes the fact that mental health issues are real, treatable health conditions. Society has allowed stigma to become a groundless sense of hopelessness to effective treatment and recovery. Being in college for only a few months, the stigma here is higher toward mental health treatment than anyone could ever imagine. As I was interviewing a student on campus, Taylor, spoke about ‘her’ experience with depression throughout her first year of college. She explained:
I have witnessed the levels of stigma as I tried to reach out to my friends and faculty on campus, and every one of them didn’t want to accept that I needed treatment. The only positive effect that I found in this high-stigma environment would have to be seeking out to my youth pastor. He helped me understand what I was going through and told me ways to cope with my well-being mentally and physically. (Taylor)
She also spoke about how morally and socially deviating trying to reach out to others was. The advisors and other students of this university were too affiliated with society’s stigma that when a depressed peer tried to reach out to them, they seemed to not care about the students’ well-being. Taylor is one of so many students on campus who have been disgraced for having a condition that affects the mind. Recognizing how mental health plays a huge role in a student’s life is important not only to the advisors or faculty within a campus, but also to other students on campus.
Mental health awareness for college students has become a significantly popular subject for researchers in the last decade. A researcher from the ADAA by the name of Ken Goodman studied the relationships between college students and their psychosocial lives. His recent study states that students leaving from high school education into their first year of university have an increasing issue with their mental health, and that this issue is not just visualized in big name universities, but also in many smaller universities and community colleges.
The mental health and wellness of first year college students is becoming a growing epidemic. Being away from home for the first time, having access to alcohol and drugs, and undergoing the demands of academic life can all lead to anxiety and depression. Today, the millennials are more vulnerable to the stressors of college life than any other generation. At many universities, the emotional well-being of their students is not taken into consideration by not only advisors, but the professors of the universities. Advisors and professors of universities need to appreciate that while as a society, individuals who are eighteen are treated as adults, and the brain does not mature fully until about age twenty-six (James).
Between adolescence and the mid-twenties, the brain is largely driven by emotion, and it’s hard for these mentors to consult with them as stigma plays a major role. The stigma among older individuals within this society needs to be removed as so many students don’t feel necessarily comfortable to seek help. The old stigma from this society must be removed, as the stigma has come from those before the millennial students. Mentors don’t necessarily understand the appropriate behavior of their millennial students, and they are to be informed about the current mental state within their students.
While depression and anxiety are the common mental disorders treated at college counseling centers, an often overlooked but equally serious problem is the rising number of students struggling with sexual assault and self- injury (Beresin). Most individuals who go through these traumatic experiences seem to find it hard to open up to people about what they’re going through. The rising issue of students experiencing depression must be taken as a serious matter. There are many causes that result in depression and anxiety such as personal and academic stress. This severely influences a student’s life and can bring about extreme negative outcomes like self- harm. The problem with universities and their inability to help students with mental health issues needs to be fixed.
Luckily, there are many cures for this major issue. Counseling centers and mentors in the classroom, and inside residence halls can impact a student’s overall well-being and attitude towards his or her daily life. This can be done with multiple strategies to help the students within the campus. Each counseling center must reach out to freshman and their parents at orientation and reinforce the availability of mental health resources throughout the year. Each college must also maintain an anonymous online screening tool, so students can see if therapy might be helpful or not.
These resources will benefit students struggling with mental health issues as it will give them someone to talk to about what they’re personally experiencing. On campus organizations such as sororities and fraternities should also be involved with their members well-being. Advisors inside the Greek Life are put in an ideal place to recognize when one of their members are experiencing difficulty, and it’s important to get them assistance. Advisors of sororities and fraternities can help reduce the stigma of mental health by talking about it and normalizing the need to take care of the mind.
Not only should Greek advisors do this, but so should every advisor and faculty on college campuses. If all campus mentors start to pay more attention to anything that may seem out of the ordinary for one of their students such as; poor concentration, mood swings, irritability, lack of motivations, weakness, then contact with that individual should be done immediately. Paola Pedrelli stated in Academic Psychiatry that it is critical to apply outreach programs and come up with strategies to ensure treatment. Even that many traditional students continue to depend on their family while in college, parental involvement in treatment is important (Pedrelli). It is critical to ensure that college students receive treatment throughout the year.
The rising of mental health problems should no longer be seen as a simple issue, as it’s becoming more complex as many students are showing serious signs of mental issues. The high amount of stress and demands that college offers to its students is getting harder and harder to cope with. The recent levels of stress, anxiety, and depression is becoming a crucial concern, and every college campus should become aware of what is happening to their students. It is very important for advisors and faculty on college campuses to notice their student’s well-being and reinforce strategies to help those students.
