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Today I will be talking about how mental health affects college students and what we can do. We know that college may be very demanding on new adults as they discover who they are and what they are looking for in life. Many things can affect a student's mental health, such as stress, depression, addiction, etc. When we think of health, we rarely think about mental health is a part of it. There have been many studies to show the increase in mental health problems in college students. As a student myself, I have found that stress can be exhausting. It is like an open door for depression and other serious health problems. When someone begins to feel the pressures of life, they must take a step back and treat the symptoms of mental and physical effects. Around 15% of college students utilize their school's counseling centers. A survey in 2014 found that 33 percent of students reported having suffered from serious depression; as we all know, depression may lead to suicide. A 2016study reported that 39 percent of students were struggling with at least one mental illness.
That latter study also found the percentage of students who had considered suicide in the past year jumped from 6 to 8 percent in previous years to 11 percent.
The goal schools and students should have to reach out and not only help themselves in the struggle to gain control over the overpowering feelings that crowd our minds. Schools such as Stanford have started “resilience projects” to build and study resilience among their students. A good way that I found dealing with stress is to talk with friends who may be going through the same thing. When we analyze the things that go around in our life, we can see that many people go through the same thing as well and that when you compare or talk about ways you have been able to relieve pressure, it may help someone else in the process. I understand how some people prefer not to talk with a total stranger about the problems they may face, so it's important to watch out for any sign that you or someone is dealing with something. “What families really want to look for is changes in behaviors, personality changes,” Rothman says. “If your child isn’t talking to you as much anymore, or spending a lot of time by themselves,” that is a red flag, especially if they’re not taking time to connect with their friends virtually. Even though that could be the kind of person you are, there are other ways of destressing through a sport or hobby. The important part is not allowing stress to take over one’s life to maintain a healthy life in every aspect. All in all, it's important to look out not only for our well being for the well-being of others; mental health is something that needs to be talked about. Hopefully, in upcoming years we will be able to improve how we treat mental disorders.