Being A College Student Is Much Harder Than In The 1950's

College for many is a rejoicing part of growing up. The thought of entering a new beginning and creating joyous memories along the way paints the best years of life for many. During college years, students typically want to live free, disregard adult responsibilities and have a great social life, all while maintaining the course load of their academic studies. It all sounds great until an unfortunate reality for too many college students sets in. That unfortunate circumstance being coping with the death of a loved one. In the United States alone an estimated 30% to 40% of students on college campuses are grieving the loss of someone with whom they shared a significant relationship

The mental stability of college students has dropped to a staggering low, so low that 1 in 4 college students have reported that the have had suicidal thoughts and actions. That's just the amount that have reported that they are feeling suicidal. So many college students struggle with mental illness and receive no help or guidance in curing and dealing with their illnesses.

Mental health among college students has been proven to be a relevant social issue that our society faces. There are certainly a few different institutions that play a large role within the development of this social issue. The first institution, and the primary institution at play with this issue, is the higher education system. In terms of mental health and having access to resources, college students haven’t always been as lucky as they are today. One study in 2007 explains the story of Junior at Syracuse University (Kravets, 3081). Anita Rutman had a history of mental health issues; she even found herself being admitted to a mental health hospital. One morning in February, she threw herself off of the eighth floor of Boland Hall and landed on a patio and fortunately lived. However, her attempt stemmed from the university sending her letter three days prior that informed Anita that the school was planning to dismiss her because of her suicidal tendencies (Kravets, 3081). Anita later sued Syracuse for ten million dollars for malpractice and negligence in handling her condition.

Another reason why students are not successful in college is that of stress. Relationships, family issues and cost of tuition are stress-related factors that are dealt with a college student. The America Institute of the street website says, “a 2008 mental health study by the Associated Press and mtvU eight in 10 college students say they have experienced stress in their daily lives over the past three months” (Stress in College Students p. 1). The college that I

College can be extremely hard, emotionally and intellectually. Students are thrown into an environment where they have to become completely self-sufficient, if they weren’t already, and find out who they want to be. Classes are harder and the homework is more involved, and we are expected know what right and wrong is, in a world full of completely wrong choices happening around us. Simply put, college is stressful and confusing, but wonderful at that. Some students find themselves struggling with alcohol, or dating. My struggle over the past year has been my inability to ask for help with depression.

Depression, anxiety, and suicide are relatively common phenomena among college students (Klerman & Weissman, 1989; Twenge et al., 2010).

Suicide is the final part of the chain and with the information that has been shown, statistically, the more a student continues to fight in their education, the more likely they are to take their lives away. Cris Brownson and all the other authors, write about suicide within college students in “Distress and Suicidality in Higher Education: Implications for Population-Oriented Prevention Paradigms.” Suicide is second most common death within college students according to this paper and the authors want to know why this is to explain to the audience the type of problems college students typically go through. A bunch of students from University of Texas Austin were sampled to find out about their mental health history and found that a 26% of students have considered suicide at least once in their lives, 22% of undergraduate and 18% of graduate students have seriously considered suicide, and 7% of undergraduates and 5% of graduate students have attempted suicide at least once in their lives. It was also reported that 73% of these students most stressful times were because of academic reason, which branch off to financial problems, school work, relationship problems, ect. It also shows that alcohol and drugs play a major role in suicide since students will try overdosing with alcohol and drugs to try to take away their own lives. It was originally

Mental health is a serious topic that is often not taken seriously. Due to my own struggles with depression, I have experienced the impact mental illness can have on a student’s life. Mental illness can make everyday life feel unbearable and can have just as serious of an effect on a person as a physical illness. The causes of increasing mental health problems in college students are numerous, and it will take work from both students and universities to overcome this problem, but change is necessary for the health of U.S. college students.

College represents a form of higher learning. For many, it is also a time for personal growth as we transition into adulthood. This in itself is a stressful situation as one must make drastic adjustments to a new role, environment, and demands. Stress is a major contributor to the development of mental and emotional issues (Rodgers, L., Tennison, L. 2009). Research has been done to determine the impact of depression and anxiety on university students. It has been

Before the main problems for college students were homesickness and relationships. Now the majority of students struggle with depression, anxiety, and self-harm.

Anxiety and Depression disorders are two of the most common mental disorders in the United States (Falsafi, 2016). It appears that the two disorders are widespread amongst college students and most cannot manage the high demands and stress (Falsafi, 2016). Therefore, they feel more prone to depression and anxiety (Falsafi, 2016). According to the authors Miller & Chung, mental health amongst college students in the United States is a growing public health concern and educators are concerned about the low academic performance of college students and how it influences their mental health (Miller, & Chung, 2009). Research indicates that university students suffer with low grades and poor academic performances, while trying to manage depression and anxiety (Falsafi, 2016). With the consistence of higher drop out rates, it is imperative that colleges and universities create programs that assist students with managing their depression and anxiety to help them through their education.

5. Many relationships are started (and ended) throughout college years. Those who are in relationships have to deal with the stresses of arguments, seeing someone too much, seeing someone not enough and those pesky long-distance relationships.

With more and more college students becoming depressed and anxious, researchers have been working hard to try and improve college student lifestyles. According to Therese Borchard, associate editor of World of Psychology, at least 44 percent of American college students reported feeling symptoms of depression this past year (Borchard).

Depression and anxiety among college students is something that experts have focused on for the past twenty years. The information they have been gathering ranges from the different stressors of college life to the effects of one's culture on how they deal with depression or anxiety symptoms. They have identified a few core characteristics of depression and thoughts of suicide. These are both serious concepts in which people need to seek help for. It is important for students to reach out to friends, family, or professionals to support them during this time. Many campuses offer counseling centers which are seeing many more people over the past few years.

Campus mental health statistics paint an alarming picture of the incidence of suicide rates on college campuses and by some measures they are getting worse. Almost one in three students have admitted to considering suicide. Mental health needs on campus are real and serious, they are also growing, which is