BY ROB DANZMAN, NCC, LCMHC
Supporting Your Student’s Mental Health Over the years of working with college students, I’ve seen a steady increase in anxiety and depression. I’ve also seen more students struggle with motivation issues. Since COVID, I’m seeing added stressors like social isolation and struggles with online learning. This past year has been challenging on so many levels. Many of us are doing okay, but many of us aren’t. Your student may have been struggling already, or you may have new reasons to be concerned. Let’s take a quick look at four common stressors students face, coping skills they can use to get through — and what you can do to help.
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Anxiety Nearly every student I work with has anxiety. They may not use that word, but the symptoms add up (e.g., persistent racing thoughts, elevated heart rate, trouble sleeping). Stress is normal and actually helps activate us for a task. Anxiety on the other hand is an unhealthy perception that a stressor is more severe and permanent than reality would indicate. Anxiety is persistent, although at times it may quietly pulse in the background. It can make students avoid hanging out with friends, check their grades or attend class.
Depression Each year around 30% of college students are diagnosed with depression. Since those are the ones who contact a professional, it’s probably a huge underestimate. Nearly every student I work with has some form of depression. Depression is not the same as feeling sad or a response to a bad event. It’s the experience of feeling despondent for weeks/months/years at a time. College students rarely share with the adults in their life just how depressed they feel. You may notice behavioral changes well before hearing that they’re hurting so much.
Motivation Of all the challenges I work on with college students, motivation issues are the hardest to overcome. There’s usually a history of being accused of laziness, as if the student was morally deficient or just a slacker. However, research in the last few years has found a definitive neurological basis for why so many people struggle with motivation. Real motivation issues are a deep trench within which we feel stuck. I work with so many students who sincerely want to get stuff done but can’t get started or can’t complete a task.
Substance Use Unfortunately college students (like the general population) use and misuse a lot of substances from super-addictive prescription drugs like Xanax, Klonopin, Valium and Ativan to weed (marijuana), alcohol, nicotine and caffeine (found in ridiculously high amounts in popular “energy drinks”). All of these things have negative effects on our brains and bodies.
Spring 2021
