The Reality of Living with the Burden of Mental Health Issues
By Kayla Smothers
The rate of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders is skyrocketing for college students. The question at hand is why? Why has depression doubled in rates and suicide tripled in rates? Why are these mental health issues increasing and becoming more a part of college student’s lives? There are simple answers like stress, pressure, and more. But here is a deeper dive into more causes of mental health issues.
Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders are becoming more common to talk about, but there is still stigma around these topics and many students are experiencing them. A student, who requested to remain anonymous, talked about her experiences with mental illness.
She was asked the question, “Why do teens and college students not want to talk about their issues involving mental health?”
“Teens and students like me do not want to burden others with their problems or look and feel like they are asking for attention. It’s embarrassing and really hard to say to someone ‘I have depression’, ‘I have severe anxiety’, ‘I throw up in the bathroom after I eat because I can’t stand the way I look and hate the feeling of being full.’”
This is backed up by research done by the JED Foundation which says there is a huge stigma around mental health issues, and only 23 percent of college aged students feel comfortable about opening up about their mental health.
She is not the only one who feels this way. Millions of teens and college students are experiencing these thoughts every day. According to Heather Monroe, a clinician who works with teens and young adults, people ages 12 to 25 are the most likely to have these disorders. It is hard to notice the teens and college students who have these disorders because it is easy to hide them. This is also backed up by research done by the JED Foundation, which says there is a huge stigma around mental health issues, and only 23 percent of college aged students feel comfortable about opening up about their mental health.
“It seems that a lot of parents and friends of students with these disorders are not sure what to do when their children and friends are suffering with these illnesses, because it is not something that can just be cured or that will go away within a few days with medicine. It takes time and a lot of effort to help someone who is going through disorders like these. I know this because my parents didn’t know how to handle me when I was going through the worst of my depression, anxiety, and eating disorder. They got mad at me when I wouldn’t eat and when I would stay in bed instead of going to school. I wanted to eat, and I wanted to go to school and be productive, but I would look at myself in the mirror and hate myself and would physically feel like I could not get out of bed,” said the anonymous student.
In college, students do not even have the support system of their parents there with them, and they can struggle with all the new changes and the new environment. There is no calling in and having your parents excuse your absence. Each student is responsible for themselves and it is a lot of new pressure on them.
Some factors for students experiencing mental health disorders are genetics, loss of self, stress, pressure, poor choices/regret, relationships, debt, and much more, according to the JED Foundation, which is a foundation dedicated to helping students with mental health problems.
Joan Davis is a woman who started the Lynne Ora KushelFoundation for Bipolar Research and Suicide Preventionat UC Davis Mind Institute. She started this foundation for mental health awareness in honor of her sister who committed suicide because of her battle with depression and bipolar disorder and depression.
Davis was asked, “What do you think colleges can do to help students with mental illnesses like depression?”
“Our foundation is coming together with an app that is a link between a student’s psychologist and their parents. The student can go in and tell their therapists what their plans are for the day or week, and if they don’t go to an event, they say they said they would go to, especially multiple events, that is a red flag. It tracks behavior and its confidential between the school and the parents.”
The last question was, “What do you think are the important questions about mental health that should be asked not just to students, but also adults?”
“Are you happy? When people get frustrated or tired or think that their child or family member is just looking for attention, to accept the fact that mental illness and is a real thing, and to treat it as important as any serious illness is important. Even if you feel like you are dropping everything for them all the time, it is better than the person taking their life. It is truly never just for attention.”
