Running head: MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

Mental Health in College Students

Andrew Tomasello
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
The college environment is an environment filled with competition, stress and possible
drug abuse. There are many college students who want to be the head of the class and some even
struggle just to pass their classes. These things, as well as paying for college, can lead to high
amounts of stress in the college space. Another popular tend in colleges is that younger students
tend to want to experiment with drugs and have a high-tendency of abusing alcohol. These
factors tend to persist around the world in many higher-level education settings and can
sometimes lead to the deterioration of not only the students physical health but mental health as
well. There are many forms of mental illness and different causes for them.

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Mental Health in College Students

There is a growing crisis of mental health problems among college students in America
and it is being caused by many factors but the biggest culprit being stress. There is a constantly
growing number reports dealing with anxiety and depression among college students and many
counseling centers nation-wide are starting to become more and more concerned. One of the
most concerning issues when dealing with depression would be the possibility of suicide for that
individual. One of the more common causes of mental illness among college students is sleep
deprivation. According to Henriques (2014), college students average just over 6 hours of
sleep. There are many negative effects of having a continuously poor sleep schedule and can
enhance problems associated with mental health and can cause the problem to grow.

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Is there a problem of mental illness for college students?

There is a definite crisis of mental health issues of college students in America as well as
other countries such as Chile. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Almost 73
percent of students living with a mental health condition experienced a mental health crisis on
campus. Yet, 34.2 percent reported that their college did not know about their crisis. There is a
large amount of students who have to stop attending college due to mental health reasons. The
National Alliance on Mental Illness also claimed that of the percentage of college students who
dropped out due to mental illness depression, bipolar disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder
were the primary diagnoses of those young adults. Many college directors and counseling centers
across multiples colleges agree that mental health issues in college students are on the rise and
you can see some of the problems attributed with that in the graphic below.

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What is considered to be a mental illness?

According to the National Alliance on Mental illness, A mental illness is a condition that impacts
a person's thinking, feeling or mood may affect and his or her ability to relate to others and
function on a daily basis. Each person will have different experiences, even people with the same
diagnosis. The more easily definable and common mental illness are attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, autism, bipolar disorder, borderline
personality disorder, depression, dissociative disorders, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia.
Typically mental health disorders are caused by many factors and not just one event.
There are two very serious problems that are attributed with having mental health problems one
being the disabilities from the disease itself and the other being the stereotypes and challenges

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the inflicted person has to face as a result from the misconceptions about their illness. There
tends to always be a stigma on people with mental illness. This stigma tends to make it harder for
people to search and receive help for their illness especially in the college setting. The National
Alliance on Mental Illness found that More than 45 percent of young adults who stopped
attending college because of mental health related reasons did not request accommodations. 50
percent of them did not access mental health services and supports either.
What could cause mental illness for a college student?
There can be many causes for mental illness but some are more powerful than
others such as stress and sleeping disorders. According to a study done by the Department of
Biostatistics at the University of Washington at Seattle on Chilean college students, In an
unadjusted analysis, participants with poor sleep quality had 4.65-fold higher odds of
experiencing common mental disorders compared with those with good sleep quality. This
study shows that sleep depravity can seriously harm ones mental health and if a college student
were to persistently have high instances of common mental disorders due to poor sleep they
would be likely have their disorder develop into something more serious.
Another common cause for mental disorders would be stress. There are many things that
increase stress in a college setting such as deadlines, grades, and debt. Stress is very common
among college students and can easily develop into anxiety and later on to depression.
A seemingly harmless activity that can lead to mental disorder is alcohol-abuse and drug
usage. According to research done by the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, our research
clearly confirms the existence of a close relationship between mental health related variables and

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substance misuse in general (whether involving alcohol, illicit drugs, or unauthorized
prescription drugs).
What can college administrations and student organizations do to limit the causes of
mental illness for their students?
The majority of people who are college dropouts have some sort of mental disorder.
There are various supports and barriers for people with mental illness when trying to receive
higher education. According to a study done by Richard Stockton College of New Jersey at
Galloway, 42% of the victims of mental illness that were surveyed believed that the symptoms
of their illness affected their ability to receive education the most. This shows if universities
start accommodating to the symptoms of the more common mental illnesses (such as depression)
in their classrooms they may improve students ability to learn with mental health problems and
prevent students from having mental health issues.
References
Concepcion, T., Barbosa, C., Vlez, J. C., Pepper, M., Andrade, A., Gelaye, B., & ... Williams,
M. A. (2014). Daytime Sleepiness, Poor Sleep Quality, Eveningness Chronotype, and
Common Mental Disorders Among Chilean College Students. Journal Of American
College Health, 62(7), 441-448. doi:10.1080/07448481.2014.917652
Corrigan, P. W., & Watson, A. C. (2002, February 1). Understanding the impact of stigma on
people with mental illness. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489832/

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Henriques, G. (2014, February 15). The College Student Mental Health Crisis. Retrieved April
1, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201402/thecollege-student-mental-health-crisis
Lo, C. C., Monge, A. N., Howell, R. J., & Cheng, T. C. (2013). The Role of Mental Illness in
Alcohol Abuse and Prescription Drug Misuse: Gender-Specific Analysis of College
Students. Journal Of Psychoactive Drugs, 45(1), 39-47.
doi:10.1080/02791072.2013.763561
Learn about the issue. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www2.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Find_Support/NAMI_on_Campus1/Lear
n_About_The_Issue/Learn_About_The_Issue.htm
Mental health conditions. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from https://www.nami.org/LearnMore/Mental-Health-Conditions
Rivman, S. (2014, November 19). For college freshmen, Mental Health Help Should Come Early
On. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-rivman/forcollege-freshmen-ment_b_6188068.html
Schindler, V. P., & Kientz, M. (2013). Supports and barriers to higher education and
employment for individuals diagnosed with mental illness. Journal Of Vocational
Rehabilitation, 39(1), 29-41. doi:10.3233/JVR-130640

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Primary Research Outline

I plan to go to the counseling center and interview a counselor regarding mental illness and will
ask the following questions:
1. Do you believe there to be a problem of mental illness for college students?
2. What do you believe to be a mental illness?
3. What do you believe causes mental illness in college students?

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4. What can college administrations and student organizations do to limit the causes of mental
illness for their students?