EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

The Effects of Anxiety and Depression On College Students

Taryn Moore
PSYCH 1010

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

Taryn Moore
PSYCH 1010
The Effects of Anxiety and Depression On College Students
Anxiety disorder has been on the rise throughout college
students for many years. It has caused students to have excessive fear
and can effect their everyday functioning. The amount of college
students who have anxiety and depression has been on the rise as
well. Most students do not get help, which can cause these mental
disorders to get worse over time.
Anxiety has become one of the most common mental disorders
in the United States. According to the Anxiety and Depression
Association of American, forty million people suffer from anxiety, and
75% of people who suffer from this disorder get their first episode
before the age of 22 (ADAA, n.d.). College is not easy and most
students get very stressed out over their responsibilities, and the
amount of students who have anxiety is increasing over time. In a
study done by the 2013 Association for University and College
Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) they surveyed students in
Universities that had over 25,000 students to see how many had
anxiety. They found that during the year 2007 37% of students had
anxiety, and in the year 2013 they found that 46% of students had
anxiety (AUCCCD, 2013). The number over 8 years jumped by 9%.

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

When you are suffering from anxiety your conscious mind does
not kick in. You have to many stress hormones being tossed around.
Your heart begins to race and your adrenalin can begin to flow to your
muscles. Only after you begin to feel panicky does your conscious mind
begin to kick in. Your conscious then decides if what you are freaking
out about is something that you should fear and a genuine threat.
When you go to school and the professor announces that there is
going to be a pop quiz, you begin to get some anxiety. However you
could not consider yourself someone who suffers from the mental
disorder itself. Anxiety would be affecting your every day and
academic life. On an average day you would be on edge and worrying
all day. You would have excessive fears, which could lead to what feels
like a panic attack. In your schoolwork you would receive a lower grade
on an exam or important project because you stress out about it so
much. If you suffer from severe anxiety you could completely fail a
course or end up dropping out. It is becoming more common for
students to not only suffer from anxiety but to also have depression.
According to the ADAA just about half of the people suffering
with depression are also diagnosed with anxiety (ADAA,n.d.). The DSM
characterizes depression as someone who has extreme and persistent
periods of depressed moods. A depressed person has trouble falling
asleep, no energy, loses interest in friends even sexual activity, trouble
being able to concentrate, and has a short fuse. There is a difference

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

between someone who is just in a bad mood for one day. Someone who
is depressed can be sad and irritable for a lot longer than two weeks.
If you looked inside the brain of a person with depression you
would notice that they have a low serotonin level and a smaller
hippocampus. Serotonin is a chemical that is released that affects your
mood, appetite, and learning. When this is low then these
characteristics become affected. The hippocampus section in the brain
controls memory and emotion. When depressed this section of the
brain begins to get smaller. The longer someone is depressed the
smaller the hippocampus becomes. Depression can affect your life in
the worst ways. So if there are such a high number of college students
suffering from depression what is causing it?
The National Institute of Mental Health acknowledged some of
the troubles that college students are facing. They wrote that

Living away from family for the first time

Missing family or friends
Feeling alone or isolated
Experiencing conflict in relationships
Facing new and sometimes difficult school work
Finances

are all reasons why students can get anxiety and depression (NIMH,
2009).
As a twenty-year-old college student I can understand how
students can get anxiety and depression. There is a lot to lose if you
slip up or fail one test. Some students, like myself, are working full

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

time and going to school full time. Trying to balance the two begins to
get tricky, and I end up staying in every night to try and keep on top of
it, making it so I do not see my friends a lot. Although I work full time it
still seems like there is never enough money. When I moved out on my
own I did not know that it would be as lonely as it was. These are all
signs that cause someone like me, a typical college student, to suffer
from anxiety and depression.
Just like most students, I did not go and get help for a very long
time. Healthy Minds Study found that only 55% of Brown Universities
students that suffer from anxiety and depression went and got help
(HMS, 2012). I decided it was time to get help when I had my first
panic attack. It was my first semester at college and a group of friends
were going out ice-skating. I knew I should not have gone because I
had an essay and two tests the next week, but I went anyway. When I
got to the ice rink my friend thought it would be fun to grab onto my
hands and begin pulling me. It was fun at first until we started going
way to fast, and I began to feel my anxiety take over. I tried to control
it but it began taking over me and I was yelling for him to stop and let
go. Once he let go I lost balance and fell onto the ice. I immediately ran
to the side and began feeling as if I could not breathe. Ice-skating is
something that should be a fun activity and the last thing anyone
would expect is to have a panic attack. This was when I knew I needed
help.

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

The only real treatment for anxiety and depression is to be put

on antidepressants. According to the ADAA one in ten Americans take
antidepressants (ADAA, n.d.). Antidepressants are medications that
help balance the neurotransmitters in your brain that affect the way
you behave and your mood. The point of the antidepressants is to help
put you in a better mood, get better sleep, and help you concentrate
on things that you could not prior to the medication.
Through personal experience I have learned that the only way to
over come these disorders is to get diagnosed and see what you can
do to make your life more positive. Most students do not recognize that
they have anxiety or depression. It is important that everyone is
educated on these topics and knows what signs they need to look for. I
believe that anxiety and depression are something that should not be
taken lightly. If students were more educated on the topics and knew
what to look for in themselves and their friends, and how they could
help overcome it.

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

References

Anxiety and Depression Association of America (n.d.). Facts. Retreived

from: http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/helping-others/collegestudents/facts

American Psychological Association (2014). Students Under Pressure.

Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/09/coverpressure.aspx

EFFECTS OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ON COLLEGE STUDENTS

Anxiety and Depression Association of America (n.d.). Depression.

Retreived from:
http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression

National Institute of Mental Health (2009). Depression and College

Students. Retrieved from:
http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/uploads/docs/depression-collegestudents.pdf

BU Today (2015). A Growing Challenge. Retrieved from:

http://www.bu.edu/today/2015/mental-health-college-students/

Anxiety and Depression Association of America (n.d.). Medication.

Retreived from: http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/treatment/medication