How Incoming College Students Can Mind Their Mental Health
At college campuses across the country, students have been increasingly seeking mental health services at a rate that far outpaces enrollment growth.
"The utilization of counseling centers in the last five years has grown, on average, 30 to 40 percent," says Ben Locke, the executive director of the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State University, which has studied the trend. That compares to an average increase in institutional enrollment of 5.6 percent during the same period.
By design, Locke points out, significant resources have been put toward ensuring students seek mental health help if they need it. With the 2004 passage of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which has since been reauthorized, he notes, significant federal funding has been spent to prevent suicide, reduce stigma from mental health treatment and increase the likelihood students would seek help, plus improve awareness and training in educational communities to identify and refer at-risk students for mental health services. "Somewhere in the range of $500 million has been poured into middle school, high school and college to address all of those concerns," says Locke, who is Penn State's senior director of counseling and psychological services.
[See: 11 Simple, Proven Ways to Optimize Your Mental Health.]
Less clear is whether more college students are suffering from mental illness or if students are dealing with more mental health problems. "What is increasing is the prevalence with which students presenting at counseling centers are reporting threat-to-self characteristics," Locke says. "So self-injury, seriously considered attempting suicide and made a suicide attempt -- those indicators have gone up every year for the last five years." However, Locke reiterates that resources have been put toward increasing the referral rate of students at risk, and he adds, "The prevalence of students with a history of mental health treatment is not increasing, according to our data."
What is readily apparent is that many students are seeking mental health services, and colleges across the country are trying to catch up to demand by adding more mental health staff, including counselors. (Locke points out the 2004 act aimed at promoting community interventions and raising awareness didn't provide funding for clinical services.) Along with adding staff and expanding on-campus counseling center hours to improve access, colleges are working overtime to educate parents and students about factors that can raise mental health risk and how to access help if needed.
"Students can live in a residence hall with 50 people and feel isolated," says Barry A. Schreier, director of counseling services and a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Iowa. He points out that loneliness is linked to all sorts of bad health outcomes, from increased stress to depression.
As an antidote to isolation and to bolster overall mental health, psychology experts encourage students to get involved and stay connected, from joining a campus club to cultivating a close group of friends. "When the students become part of something that's bigger than themselves, they tend to do better," he says. "Inherently, we're pretty social creatures," Schreier notes.
[See: Is It OK to Talk to Yourself?]
As part of a broader societal trend toward extended adolescence, data shows many young people are putting off the responsibilities of adulthood for a longer period, and leaning more on mom and dad. But Micky Sharma, director of the Office of Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service at Ohio State University, advises parents to encourage their newly minted college students to stand on their own two feet. When mom or dad get the call or text about a problem the student is experiencing, from classroom struggles to a difficult roommate, he tells parents, "Your response should be, 'So what are you going to do about it?'" In the run up to college, he says, many parents have acted as the fixer for their adolescent children when difficulties arose. But when college students develop their own solutions, they're not only learning about how to succeed, they're building lasting resilience that, experts say, can be protective for mental health.
However, that's not to say parents should turn a blind eye to signs that a son or daughter may be struggling psychologically, from changes in mood, irritability and lack of concentration that may indicate depression to subtleties that may go unnoticed by peers. Instead, Schreier encourages parents of incoming first-year students to "be our best allies," including talking to the student about concerns, being knowledgeable about on-campus mental health resources and recommending, when necessary, that a student uses those services.
Sharma also recommends students create their own self-care plan. Though different for everyone, this involves making detailed plans to meet one's physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs as well as prioritizing relationships. And it includes getting back to the basics: Set an established workout schedule, don't make a habit of pulling all-nighters, pay attention to your diet and understand, Sharma notes, how stress can derail the healthiest habits. During stressful times, such as around mid-terms or finals, he says, "The first things people tend to cut out are the things they do to reduce their stress. It's counterintuitive, but it's often what happens." In addition, a self-care plan should detail what to do in a crisis, from breathing exercises and other strategies that you know can help you relax to making a list of people you can call, from family and friends to a therapist. And avoid alcohol or drugs as a means to cope, experts say, since these can escalate difficulties.
[See: Apps to Mind Your Mental Health.]
Finally, for students heading to college for the first time who have established mental health needs -- and their parents -- Locke says: "Don't wait until the last minute to arrange for services on campus, because they may not be available at the level you want."
Understand the limitations of what's offered on a college campus, and supplement by locating mental health services in the community as needed. He says that most institutions provide short-term counseling and will find ways to refer students out for long-term, specialized care. "Just like most college health centers don't provide dialysis or bone marrow transplants, most colleges and universities don't provide four years of comprehensive psychiatric care," he says. "So if you know you're coming into a college environment with these needs, plan ahead. Work with the mental health providers on campus to help identify treatment in the community that will span your academic career -- and do that in advance, rather than waiting until something goes wrong."
Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com.
