Talk About It, Would Ya?

I wrote an article last semester on mental health on campus. Here is why this problem is still relevant.

I am a human being attending college. If you are reading this, chances are you are also a human being attending college. The current population of students in college is experiencing an incredibly high rate of mental health issues. The National Institute of Health found that nearly one in ten people between the age of 18 and 25 will experience a major depressive episode. One in three young adults will have an anxiety disorder. Although women are twice as likely to experience a depressive episode and 60 percent more likely to have an anxiety disorder, these are issues that are extensively affecting the entire college-age population. Depression and anxiety are not the only mental health issues at hand. Eating disorders, trauma, OCD and more are endemic on college campuses.

Some factors exacerbate these problems for our generation; UCLA found that people are spending an average of six hours a week on social media. Multiple studies — such as one by Johan Bollan at Indiana University — have found that time on social media is inversely correlated with happiness. Technology is not the only problematic factor. According to a 2014 report by the Council of Economic Advisers, more students than ever are relying on loans to pay for secondary education. There are many social, economic and academic pressures at this age and in this type of community.

There are two primary reasons for my interest in the extreme prevalence of mental health issues in college. The first is that, after working in a neuroscience lab that studies depression, I became more aware of the detrimental effect that mental health struggles have on daily life, and that the biological origins of these struggles have yet to be fully explained. The second reason is that, after countless conversations with seemingly happy but secretly very unhappy people, I have come to the conclusion that everyone has their own demons. The reality is that these demons go completely unacknowledged or ignored because they are not considered “societally acceptable” to discuss.

Therefore, I have decided to spend my semester examining all aspects of the college-age experience that contribute to the prevalence of mental health issues. I am doing an independent study that will involve looking each week at a different contributing factor to this concern, ranging from the scientific to the subjective. I do so with the hope of finding some way to ameliorate the problem, as well as reduce the stigma that often comes with conversations about mental health. If you have a story that you feel is untold — or any opinion on the matter — feel free to reach out and help me paint a more informed picture of these issues (mhoar@middlebury.edu).