An ALARMING Number of University Students Are Suffering from Mental Health Issues

In the everyday life of a college student, one of the most serious issues that students face is mental health. In fact, this seems to be the case across different campuses around the globe.

In fact, a new study released by the American Psychological Association shows that one in every three freshmen will be impacted by the effects of mental health.

Mental Health Statistics

Additionally, research led by Professor Randy P. Auerbach from the Department of Psychology at the Columbia University, together with WHO researchers conducted a survey of over 14,000 students situated in the United States, Spain, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Mexico, Germany, Belgium, and Australia.

From the survey, it was found that about 35 percent of the respondents struggled with some form of mental complication or illness.

According to Auerbach, such findings highlight a major global problem when it comes to issues regarding mental health.

As a matter of fact, depressive disorder was highlighted as the most common mental illness. Indeed, over 20% of respondents had experienced prolonged symptoms. Following closely was general anxiety disorder, with 18.6 percent of respondents saying it affected them.

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Having sound mental health is vital in great performance at the college level for any student

Not Enough Mental Centers in Every Academic Institution

Despite quite a number of academic institutions around the world investing extensively in mental health and its subsequent resources, researchers have discovered that there are still a large number of institutions not properly equipped with the appropriate mental health care requirements.

According to Auerbach, despite the effective care still being paramount, the number of students requiring attentive treatment and care for such disorders exceeds the counseling centers and resources put in place.

In turn, this results in an imbalance of the number of students being treated for these disorders.

Moreover, the fact that students play a monumental role in determining a country’s economic success means that colleges need to play a more monumental role while addressing this issue.

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In most institutions, the number of students requiring mental health treatment outnumbers the capacity of these centers

Positive in Online Mental Health Assistance

That being said, Auerbach expresses optimism that recent advancements, as well as innovations when it comes to mental health, will improve the welfare of these students; especially those that do not have ease of accessibility to healthcare resources.

Auerbach explains that a number of university systems are currently attending to these mentally afflicted students at capacity. Moreover, the fact some of these cycling centers are usually cyclical mid-semester, results in a bottleneck situation.

That being said, Auerbach believes the new clinical tools that are online-based will certainly improve the situation, giving treatment to students who are hesitant about receiving treatment from campus clinics and centers.

Former director of the counseling center at the University of Florida, Mrs. Sherry Benton, believes that there are a number of things that students can pursue to ensure that they are in tip-top shape when it comes to their mental health. Some of these include:

Avoiding Self-Medication

Benton believes that misconceptions about college life, especially those portrayed by Hollywood, can lead to severe mental health issues.

Indeed, most students believe that it is ‘cool’ to indulge in activities such as alcohol binging and trying out the whole array of ‘feel high’ drugs.

This idea can give the students the fall perception that they have come to college to have fun with drugs and risky intimate behavior. Not only does this affect their overall health, but their mental health as well!

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Indulging in depressants such as drugs and alcohol are some of the factors that might worsen the mental health of an individual

Caring About Their Overall Health

Exercise is a critical part of life. However, you’ll find very few students enrolling in sporting activities because most of them are worried about issues such as making new friends, moving to another place, and checking their credits.

Such stressful activities might result in excessive binging, alcoholism, becoming a party animal, or ignoring your studies altogether!

Indeed, preoccupying yourself with positive things such as eating healthy, exercising regularly, and staying away from toxic friends, your mental health will improve. In turn, your grades will be great and you will be in the best possible state for future successful endeavors.

Additionally, one can preoccupy themselves with resilience training. This type of training enables a student to learn how to pick themselves up after suffering from traumas and disappointments that could result in mental issues if not handled in time.

Thus, by practicing and learning to handle the pressures of failure, individuals can prepare themselves in case of any mishaps and handle them with a lot of confidence once you tackle them.