Universities across America are reporting that the number of students with anxiety has almost doubled since 2014. The Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State reported results of a study in 2014 that found anxiety had surpassed depression as the leading mental health issue facing college students. More than half of 100,000 students who participated reported anxiety as their primary concern. In 2015 the American College Health Association conducted a survey that found nearly one in six college students had sought treatment or been diagnosed with anxiety. Of the students interviewed, 22% revealed that in the last 12 months anxiety had affected their academic performance. This effect extended to the point of receiving a lower grade on an exam or project or resulted in an incomplete in the class or dropping a course.
Some researchers believe that the increase in anxiety and depression is a perfect storm that stems from academic pressures and competition at school, peer pressure, and separation from family. Technological advances compound these stressors and researchers are finding that technology has disrupted our ability to tolerate uncertainty and to accept delays, especially for young adults. The build up of stress while waiting for texts, exam grades, and the anticipation leading up to the completion of projects, exams, and their resulting grades can all create anticipatory anxiety. Additionally, the loss of face-to-face support at home can place many students at a disadvantage because of the isolation that a new environment and technology fosters. You can read my blog about the effects of technology here.
Many students don’t understand that depression and anxiety can be two sides of the same coin and their isolation can sometimes make it harder to determine whether they need extra support. Both anxiety and depression are treatable with therapy, academic life coaching, lifestyle changes, and if necessary, medication. Sometimes it requires a combination of all four. The solutions are easier and more efficient if matters are caught in time.
Normal anxiety and when to reach out for help
Feeling stressed out at some point during the semester especially during midterms and finals is not unusual. However, if those feelings continue to the point that they interfere with a student’s ability to function at school, to get to class or finish assignments, if they’re having trouble concentrating because of distress and don’t want to hang out with friends, then it is time to reach out for help. Important warning signs to know about are:
• Extended periods of feeling sad or despair,
• Excessive anxiety or panic,
• Withdrawing or isolating from daily activities or friends
• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide,
• Giving away possessions,
• Change in personal hygiene
Other symptoms to watch for are excessive use of alcohol or drugs. Many students will self-medicate with alcohol, drugs or sex if the feelings of anxiety, depression or loneliness become too much to handle on their own. If a parent or friend notices or suspects an increase in any of these behaviors it is important to reach out and intervene.
What about treatment for anxiety and depression?
The most common method of therapy is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which is sometimes combined with medication. This type of treatment focuses on replacing negative, unproductive thought patterns with more realistic, useful ones. There are concrete steps to overcome anxiety and depression. Effective treatment concentrates on facing one’s fears, understanding one’s responses to life’s difficulties, and problem-solving strategies.
Regardless of the fact that depression and anxiety are treatable, many students are hesitant to admit they have a problem and to look for help. Frequently students may try to keep their feelings of anxiety to themselves or try to hide it to avoid feeling like they have failed. They may ignore their symptoms or deny that they need to get help. Often they will try to cope by telling themselves that it’s “all in their head,” or “to get over it.”
When healthy anxiety persists or shifts into distress like having panic attacks if they can’t sleep or relax or continually worry about what’s next and it affects daily functioning, it’s time to get help. Likewise with depression, when disappointment over a bad grade, or a fight with a friend or break up of a relationship begins to fill a student’s day with sadness, loneliness or low self-worth then reaching out is important.
Here are some of the statistics found in the Collegiate Mental Health study:
57% of students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety, and 22% said it affected their academic performance
30% of students said stress affected their academic performance
86% reported feeling overwhelmed by all they had to do
35% felt so depressed that it was difficult to function
Support for students
These realities and their accompanying statistics are a scary proposition for any parent sending their child off to college. The transition to college is filled with stressors that are unpredictable and uncontrollable by both parent and student. If students find that their emotional life is taking over their academic and personal lives, then it’s time to take action to adjust their response to stress. There are many supports in place at most colleges. However, it is a numbers game, and sometimes there just aren’t enough counselors on campus to meet the demand. It can be easy for a first-year student or shy sophomore to fall through the cracks of the support system on campus. If your child has struggled with anxiety, depression, procrastination, or time management you may want to consider securing support for your freshman before they go off to college or to secure support from the school shortly after their arrival on campus. An academic life coach can provide the necessary support to some students to alleviate anxiety and the stressors of transition to university life. They can help students focus on strategies that will help assuage some of the concerns that correspond to the difficulties of college life. Some of these strategies would cover time management, setting priorities for their new lifestyle and pressures at school and adjusting to the increased academic responsibilities and personal challenges that arise when transitioning to college. If you think you have a teen that needs support to get on track either in high school or college, please give me a call for a free 20-minute consultation to discuss ways that I might be of help.
Patricia Duncan, MA, LPCC
As an Academic Life Coach and Counselor for adolescents and young adults, Patricia’s mission is to motivate teens and twenty-somethings to build academic and life skills, develop self-confidence and navigate an ever changing world as successful adults.