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Chelsea Notton

Corrine Holke-Farnam

UNIV 1000, Section 28

April 25th, 2017

Mental Illness on College Campuses

According to Emory University, there are more than 1,000 deaths per year on college

campuses across the United States. Mental illness is a growing problem throughout our country

that needs to be dealt with. Colleges like the University of Northern Iowa have resources for

students like health centers but sometimes that is not enough. With the number of college

students needing care, there needs to be more resources for them to have access too.

According to USA Today College, one and every twelve U.S. College student makes a

suicide plan. In the past year, there was 49.5% students reported feeling hopeless, and 60.5% of

students reported feeling lonely, which is a common indicator of depression. Two-thirds of

students who were struggling did not seek any type of treatment. Mental illness is the number

two leading cause of death among those ages fifteen to thirty-four (Sabatke). Also, according to

American Psychological Association, depression and anxiety are the most common mental

disorders treated at college counseling centers. Mental disorders account for nearly one-half of

the disease burden for young adults in the United States, and most lifetime mental disorders have

first onset by age 24 year(Hunt and Eisenberg). Also, in a book called Mental Health Care in

the College Community, it explained how isolation and suicide have been increasing throughout

the years on college campuses. These shocking statistics are all reasons why we need to increase

resources for college students.

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Figure 1

From the American Psychological Association, Figure 1 shows the students receiving services

from their counseling centers and what their health trends were. As shown in the chart, almost

every year the percent of students went up. This displays that every year that went on, more and

more people needed help.

In a book called College Mental Health Practice, it said, Any clinician who comes to work at

a college clinic soon discovers that college mental health is a world unto itself (Grayson and

Philip 1). I think this is a very important quote because it shows how different a college students

mental illness can be compared to someone that is not going through college. Every campus is a

little different on how they deal with mental illness and their student health center. At the

University of Northern Iowa, according to their health centers website, it is open from 8am to

5pm on weekdays. If students take 5 or more credit hours during the fall or spring semester or 3

or more credit hours during the summer, they can use the health center for free since it is

included with their tuition. Although, if you see a Psychiatrist, it may not be free, and you can be
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charged on your UBill. They do not give any of your personal health information out including

to your parents. On other college campuses, the services can be very different depending on what

they offer. Most if not all of colleges offer free services to their students mainly for the fact that

there would be many unhappy people if they were not for free. Also, if the services were not

free, some students would not be able to seek out the help they need. The colleges also differ

services depending on what physicians they offer and the hours they are open for their students

to use the facilities.

In a Ted Talk called Shedding Light on Student Depression by Jack Park, he explained how

depression affected his life. He explained how when he was a kid his mother used to ask him if

he brushed his teeth before bed. Eventually that turned into his mother asking him if he took his

medication. He then told us that his depression got so bad that he stayed in his dorm room alone

for four months. This made his mom fly in from Korea to have him get the help he needed. He

was able to receive the help and was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. This video is

extremely important for everyone to watch since it shows what really happens when people go

through depression and especially in a college setting. Someone could look so happy but inside

they feel so hopeless. It is important for people like this to be able to receive whatever the

treatment they need.

Some people may argue and say that a college campus does not need to support this for their

students. They believe that the students can find the resources they need somewhere else in that

town. I disagree with this completely. Most of the students on a college campus are not from that

city and are not aware of resources available in the community. Many of those students can be

even hours away from their home. When I first arrived in Cedar Falls, I felt lost and did not

know where anything was. When I started to have my problems, I would not have known
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anywhere to go if it was not for the student health center on campus. Even only being on campus

for a month, I knew what the health center could offer to me and knew that was my best option.

It was easy to go to the health center on campus because it was only a few minute walk away

from my dorm room and it was a place that was familiar to me already. I think these are

important reasons of why student health centers are extremely important for college campuses.

Another reason college campuses need to be more open about mental illnesses, is to stop the

stigma that mental illness brings. There are many people out there that would think that if they

worked with someone with a mental illness, they would not feel comfortable. What some people

don't know is that there are many mental illnesses that can just be easily hidden for the outside

world. I am someone that deals with anxiety, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder, and

I believe that if I don't want someone to know that about me, I am able to hide it. Many reasons I

hide that from people is because a lot of people don't understand what it feels like to go through

it. Anxiety is just the constant worrying about something that can be so little and sometimes

eventually makes me have random panic attacks. Depression is just a hopeless feeling inside and

makes me feel like I am not good enough for anything. My obsessive compulsive disorder makes

me do something no matter how hard I try to tell myself that I do not need to do it. Even though I

live through these struggles every day, I am still able to go on through my day just like everyone

else but just sometimes with a little more effort. It is important for everyone to know that even if

someone struggles with something like mental illness, they are not weird/weak, but they are

strong because they are able to live with it.

Even though some campuses have options for students to use, there still needs to be more out

there. One option is that there could be longer hours where people could go into the health

center. Some people have class and work all day, and they cannot make it to the health center
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here before 5pm. Also, they do not have a large amount of staff so there is limited ability where

you could schedule an appointment. Earlier this year, I was trying to schedule an appointment at

the UNI Student Health Center with a psychiatrist, and I was told he was only in the building on

Wednesdays for students. I do not think that is right to only have a psychologist available one

day a week when they need to have one every day. Since it is only open on Wednesdays, it can

make it very challenging to schedule an appointment since everyone will have to make an

appointment on that day. Also, when you leave the psychiatrist, there are multiple signs warning

you that you have to make an appointment before you leave since there is limited slots open. I

think if they know that they have limited slots open for appointments, they need to make more

availability for people who need them. I also believe the university should have a 24 hour

program where there is a trained employee/volunteer on staff for someone to talk to them about

anything. Not everyones mental breakdowns are during the daytime when the student center is

open. Having a place on campus for people to go can be very beneficial to people. Another thing

I think campuses need is to have their student center open on the weekends. Some students like

myself on campus only go to the student center because this is not their hometown where their

family doctor is. People need the option for the weekend since that could be a critical time for

them.

There is no excuse why someone cannot get involved to help show that there needs to be more

resources on campus. One way that someone can become involved is through campus

organizations that face this issue. Even if there is not an organization yet, someone can easily

start one. Another way you could help is by talking to your colleges representative. By taking

the initiative and going out of your way, it will look great on your part and make it seem like you

actually care what happens. Throughout some campuses, there are also walks focusing on the
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awareness of mental illnesses. In the beginning of April this year, the University of Northern

Iowa had a walk called Out of Darkness where college students could get involved. The walk

focused on suicide prevention and making people aware of mental illness. There are multiple

possibilities where someone can show their interest to help with this problem.

Eventually, I hope that one day mental illness will be cured but that is not realistic. Instead,

people like us need to take the initiative to fight for people who need help. One place that help

cure a lot of the problems is our colleges student health centers.

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Works Cited

"Clinic Information." Clinic Information | Student Health Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Grayson, Paul A, and Philip W. Meilman. College Mental Health Practice. New York, NY:

Routledge, 2006. Print

Hunt, Justin, M.D., M.S., and Daniel Eisenberg, Ph.D. "Mental Health Problems and Help-Seeking

Behavior Among College Students." Journal of Adolescent Health (2009): n. pag. Google

Scholar. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Kay, Jerald, and Victor Schwartz. Mental Health Care in the College Community. Hoboken: Wiley,

2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Novotney, Amy. "Students under Pressure." Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological

Association, Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Solutions, Best Depression, and Posted By Best Depression Solutions. "Shedding Light on Student

Depression | Jack Park | TEDxPenn." Best Depression Solutions. N.p., 15 Apr. 2017. Web. 24

Apr. 2017.

"Suicide Statistics." Suicide Statistics. N.p., 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"The State of Mental Health on College Campuses: A Growing Crisis." American Psychological

Association. American Psychological Association, 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.