Mental Health Issues Among College Students

The primary purpose of this paper is to review literature and studies regarding mental health issues in college students and on college campuses. An overwhelming trend of mental health concerns have been raised in this population. There are many variables and factors involved in the well-being of college age individuals. Stressors and triggers often disrupt the optimal daily functioning of this group. The college environment brings unique barriers to mental health wellness as well as an excellent untapped potential for prevention and education initiatives and programming. This review was focused on the complex nature of mental health issues in the specificity of college age students and in the unique college campus environment.

Mental health among college students has been proven to be a relevant social issue that our society faces. There are certainly a few different institutions that play a large role within the development of this social issue. The first institution, and the primary institution at play with this issue, is the higher education system. In terms of mental health and having access to resources, college students haven’t always been as lucky as they are today. One study in 2007 explains the story of Junior at Syracuse University (Kravets, 3081). Anita Rutman had a history of mental health issues; she even found herself being admitted to a mental health hospital. One morning in February, she threw herself off of the eighth floor of Boland Hall and landed on a patio and fortunately lived. However, her attempt stemmed from the university sending her letter three days prior that informed Anita that the school was planning to dismiss her because of her suicidal tendencies (Kravets, 3081). Anita later sued Syracuse for ten million dollars for malpractice and negligence in handling her condition.

Many people surrounding the concept of college and collegiate students are recognizing what many surveys are proving. The reason people are starting to notice is because recent studies and surveys are presenting that there is evidence of a rise in mental problems. To name a couple of them, depression, suicide and even eating disorders among the collegiate students. The reason this issue has evolved into a controversy is because not only are these survey showing that the umber of students developing mental health issues is increasing but the people being affected by this issue is growing. Some stakeholders have a bad and some have good viewpoint on this issue. The stakeholders fighting and voicing their viewpoint in this controversy vary from

Deadlines, Midterms, finals, papers, all while trying to have a social life can become overwhelming. According college degree search, there are 1,100 suicides at colleges per year. That’s 7.5 per 100,000 students. It has been proven by research being a college today student is much harder than in the 1950’s. College students encounter a great deal of problems, such as depression, time management, and having personal relationships.

College can be extremely hard, emotionally and intellectually. Students are thrown into an environment where they have to become completely self-sufficient, if they weren’t already, and find out who they want to be. Classes are harder and the homework is more involved, and we are expected know what right and wrong is, in a world full of completely wrong choices happening around us. Simply put, college is stressful and confusing, but wonderful at that. Some students find themselves struggling with alcohol, or dating. My struggle over the past year has been my inability to ask for help with depression.

Depression, anxiety, and suicide are relatively common phenomena among college students (Klerman & Weissman, 1989; Twenge et al., 2010).

College students has a lot of stress that can lead to them to a condition like depression and decide to committed suicide. Those stresses can come from the individual loss a social network because this is make the individual feeling insecure, lonely or the feeling of no confidence about their self. College student also experience being pressure academically and socially, for instance having certain standard of pass and fail and the individual is expecting to meet, which this can put a lot of stress and worry to the individual. College also has a difficulty time adjusting to new demands of college life like living independent that they must take care of their self, in charge of their bills and making good decision about their life, which is can be very hard to college students and leaving them feel so stress. When their academic performance decrease, it can be very stressful because it would mean that they will not meet the require of certain GPA point or they must retake the class which is require money and time. College students also stress about losing financial aid and debt after graduate or worry about when they are going to graduated. There are just so many

Mental health is a serious topic that is often not taken seriously. Due to my own struggles with depression, I have experienced the impact mental illness can have on a student’s life. Mental illness can make everyday life feel unbearable and can have just as serious of an effect on a person as a physical illness. The causes of increasing mental health problems in college students are numerous, and it will take work from both students and universities to overcome this problem, but change is necessary for the health of U.S. college students.

Before the main problems for college students were homesickness and relationships. Now the majority of students struggle with depression, anxiety, and self-harm.

Mental health issues are arising in college campuses and affect the students as a result of being faced with various challenges. For some students, these challenges may arise from simply struggling with academic performance and due to new responsibilities while transitioning into adulthood. For others, it may due to coping and juggling their various roles at academia, family and workplace (as in the case of many non-traditional students). A study has shown that 75% of lifetime cases of developing a mental illness are affected by the age 25 years. Among college students, 11.9% have anxiety disorders; 7-9% have depression; 8.8% have reported suicide ideation (6.7%), plan (1.6%) or attempt (0.5%); 9.5% with eating disorders; 2-8% have ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder); 0.7-1.9% may show high-functioning ASD (Autism spectrum disorders); and insignificant prevalence for schizophrenia. [1] Data collected from 139 campus counselling centers between 2009 and 2015 have shown “slow, consistent” increase in the prevalence of mental illness on campus where 50% of overall

   Today a college education can overload students with too many stressful situations. Not only does Stress overload today's college students, but it is also the leading cause of personality disorders. In her essay, Cathy Bell explains that major depressive disorder strikes 5-12% of men and 10-20% of women; half of these people will have more than one occurrence and 15% of them will commit suicide ("Depression for the young"). For instance, many depressives are first recognized and treated during their years in college. For a large amount of people, depression exposes itself because of traumatizing experiences, such as leaving home and/or academic stress. For other students alcohol and drugs become a

With more and more college students becoming depressed and anxious, researchers have been working hard to try and improve college student lifestyles. According to Therese Borchard, associate editor of World of Psychology, at least 44 percent of American college students reported feeling symptoms of depression this past year (Borchard).

Depression and anxiety among college students is something that experts have focused on for the past twenty years. The information they have been gathering ranges from the different stressors of college life to the effects of one's culture on how they deal with depression or anxiety symptoms. They have identified a few core characteristics of depression and thoughts of suicide. These are both serious concepts in which people need to seek help for. It is important for students to reach out to friends, family, or professionals to support them during this time. Many campuses offer counseling centers which are seeing many more people over the past few years.

College students are susceptible to increased anxiety due to academic stress, identity confusion, and complete responsibility.

Campus mental health statistics paint an alarming picture of the incidence of suicide rates on college campuses and by some measures they are getting worse. Almost one in three students have admitted to considering suicide. Mental health needs on campus are real and serious, they are also growing, which is