I’ve taught college for almost 30 years. I’ve never had so many students tell me they’re depressed. I’ve never had so many students quit attending class or drop out so close to graduation.
When I look at students’ faces, I sometimes see the thousand-yard stare — a look of exhaustion and sadness and defeat.
I know that thousand-yard stare because I used to have it. I tell students I used to sit in a college classroom instead of standing in front of it. When I talk about my depression in class, that stare becomes more of a gaze. They listen, I think, because they’re not used to having adults talk about mental health issues.
I posted a short video on our department’s website telling students about my own struggles with depression. I tell them to seek counseling if they’re dealing with depression or anxiety. I waited until I was 40 before seeking counseling. Don’t make the same mistake, I tell them.
Oct. 6 is National Depression Screening Day. Shouldn’t every day be National Depression Screening Day?
College students are in a mental health crisis, and college and university administrations aren’t doing enough to address it.
Boston University released a study earlier this year that found that the mental health of college students has been on a steady decline for the last eight years. Researchers said the number of students who experienced one or more mental health problems had doubled since 2013.
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The Mayo Clinic reported in July that up to 44% of college students have revealed having symptoms of depression and anxiety. The symptoms, the medical center said, include difficulty with schoolwork, loss of interest in social commitments, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, emotional outbursts, a sense of being overwhelmed, panic, low self-esteem, lack of energy and thoughts of self-harm.
The college years have always been fraught with anxiety as students try to manage life away from home for the first time. But college life was torn asunder by the pandemic.
Yale University researchers attribute the increase in mental illness on college campuses in part to the isolation caused by the pandemic. Students who were used to socializing with one another found themselves alone on social media rather than hanging out with their friends. Students and teachers met on Zoom rather than in classrooms. With Zoom, it was easy just to tune out and turn inward.
If you have the flu or COVID-19, you should isolate yourself. But this doesn’t work with depression. It just makes you more depressed.
What are colleges and universities doing to address the demands of students who are facing mental health issues? Not enough — and their inaction is exacerbating the problem.
Many of the nation’s college students “are turning to their campus counseling services for help — only to encounter limited staff, red tape, restrictions on the length of services, and long wait times,” Forbes magazine wrote in July.
Students may turn to their professors to talk about their mental health struggles, but faculty members lack the training to provide counseling. In addition, they are grappling with their own mental health issues. In a survey of professors led by Boston University researchers, half of the respondents said institutions need to do more to support their psychological well-being.
It’s up to administrators to take the lead on this issue. They need to address mental illness with the same sense of urgency they addressed the coronavirus. But this isn’t happening.
If college administrators continue to neglect the mental health crisis, they do so at their own peril. Enrollment at colleges and universities has been decreasing. Studies show that mental illness is the main reason why students are dropping out of college or postponing their graduation.
Administrators want students to do well in college. They should want students to be well too. Unaddressed mental health problems jeopardize both objectives.
Perhaps administrators are waiting for the right day to address the mental health crisis.
Oct. 6 is National Depression Screening Day.
Chris Lamb is chair of the journalism and public relations department at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
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