The dark truth of post university depression “49% of students admitted that their mental health wellbeing had decreased since leaving university.” “It was a strange phase, I felt like I left part of my life behind me, I felt lost for months.” Said Alan Sharif, who graduated last summer said “It’s scary how quickly everything changes, one minute you’re graduating and sharing the occasion with the friends you’ve made over the years, to suddenly finding yourself in a world where you’re under pressure to get a job, financially struggling and feel like you don’t have a social life anymore.” A study done by the City Mental Health Alliance (CMHA) announced that 49% of students admitted that their mental health wellbeing had decreased since leaving university. The studies have shown that postuniversity depressions needs to be taken more seriously. The CMHA has also stated there are more students opening up about how their life has been affected since graduating. University is a time where students are allowed the freedom to live as they please. There are no parents watching their every move, it’s a time where you can go out three times a week and it’s socially acceptable. It’s a place where eating pasta every day becomes the norm, you don’t like doing it, but you just accept it.
Liam Hough, York St John graduate said: “I spent a year feeling lost, I was so proud of myself for graduating. I had a routine, attending my lectures, going home to the best group of lads I’ve ever met. We’d have football every Wednesday, it didn’t matter if we won or lost, we just loved being together. So I decided to go back and do a masters degree. Honestly, do I want to do a masters? No. But I miss the lifestyle, so I’ve had to do it.” Furthermore, it’s not just the lifestyle that gives students the ‘graduate blues’. You spend three years working to get that degree, but the average student is £50,000 in debt. Which has been known to cause serious mental health issues, leading to personal and physical health strained. Student Minds is a charity that has been set up for students that are suffering from their mental wellbeing. They partnered up with CMHA and spoke to over 300 recent graduates, and say 49% of those surveyed said their mental well-being declined after leaving university, while 44% felt their friends were doing better than them and 40% felt socially isolated.
By Harry McCormack 38
4print Yorkie Friday.indd 38
01/02/2019 09:43:37
