College can be a stressful time for any student. On top of the daily academic pressures, most students deal with financial stress, relationship issues, work stress, homesickness, family struggles, and extracurricular commitments during their college careers. Balancing all of these responsibilities without paying proper attention to self-care can have negative effects on both your physical and mental health. But unlike your physical health, you cannot “see” your mental health. Unfortunately, stigma surrounding mental health continues to be a barrier for students seeking help. As a result, many students may choose to ignore their mental health.
Ignoring your mental health while experiencing all the pressures of college life can be problematic for many reasons*.
- Young adults aged 18-24 have the highest prevalence of diagnosable forms of mental illness at 27%
- 75% of people with schizophrenia develop the disease between the ages 15-25
- Researchers estimate that 20-30% of college aged women may display bulimic behavior
- Eating disorders frequently co-occur with other psychiatric disorders such as depression, substance abuse and anxiety disorders
- Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood
- National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 22.1% of all Americans 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year
- Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among 18-24 year olds -and the 2nd leading cause of death for college students alone
Want to learn more? Take some time to browse these websites specifically geared towards college students and their mental health.
CampusBlues
CampusBlues is designed to facilitate student awareness about issues surrounding mental health and use of school resources. The site contains information for issues students may face during their college career ranging from eating disorders, depression, various types of additions, to relationship abuse, body image, and stress.
http://www.campusblues.com
Half of Us
Half of all college students reported feeling so depressed that they couldn’t function during the last school year. This website site collaboration is between mtvU and The Jed Foundation. This website specially encourages young people to seek mental health services. Students can hear personal stories from youth and celebrities who saguth mental health services. Students can also find educational information on a variety of topics (such as cutting, stress, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders) and suggestions to fight mental health stigma.
http://www.halfofus.com/
MPower Campaign
MPower is a youth awareness campaign dedicated to motivating young people to help educate their peers about mental health. The MPower Campaign attempts to reach young people through collaboration with artists, music industry executives, mental health advocates, and young leaders.
http://www.mpoweryouth.org/index.html
Suicide Prevention Resource Center: College Students
This site offers customized information for young adults on college student suicide. Learn about your role in preventing college student suicide, warning sings of a suicidal person, helping yours peers and self care.
http://www.sprc.org/featured_resources/customized/college_student.asp
Ulifeline
This site, designed by the Jed Foundation, contains a mental health library, drug information database, crisis center information, individual campus health service information, and an on-line self-assessment, as well as information on how to help a friend.
http:// www.ulifeline.org
Coping with Tragedy
It is important to understand that tragedies on campus affect more than the immediate individuals victims and survivors. As such, it is important for the entire campus community (administrators, faculty, staff, and students) to know how to cope in a healthy manner if a tragedy occurs. Ulifeline, in conjunction with mtvU and The Jed Foundation have compiled a helpful list of resources to help the campus community.
http://www.ulifeline.org/main/page/229/dealingwithtragedy
This guide, recently published, serves as a guide for students who want to seek help for mental illness or emotional distress. See http://www.bazelon.org/l21/rightsguide.htm for more information.
*Statistics taken from the Active Minds Inc. website http://www.activemindsoncampus.org/index.php