by MOLLY BOHANNON
Creighton Digital Storytellers

The rise in college students seeking assistance with their mental health has led many to ask: what was it like before students and universities were comfortable, or at least more comfortable, addressing this problem?

We’ve established in the last article on this topic that there is indeed a rise in students seeking help, according to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health that operates out of Penn State University.

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The rise in students seeking help, however, has led to increased challenges that universities are facing.

The 2017 Center for Collegiate Mental Health Annual Report stated: “In order to adequately meet rising demand with limited resources, college and university counseling centers must strive to align their policy and funding decisions with institutional priorities.”

With the push for universities to change their structure in order to assist theses students, especially with the two main struggles students face of depression and anxiety, we become curious what it was like before so many were trying to accommodate these struggles, and what led to the accommodation.

“My thought is that it’s a combination of greater awareness, less stigma related to asking for help, more acceptance of problems like depression and anxiety, as well as an increase in people suffering from depression and anxiety,” said Jennifer Peters, director of counseling at Creighton University.

“College students are under immense pressure, academically, socially, financially,” continued Peters. 

“There is no down time.”

The changing stigma surrounding mental health is often cited as a reason for this spike in students seeking health.

“As [negative] stigma is diminished, we have seen students, who historically may have avoided seeking assistance, are taking the risk to inquire,” said Charlene Patterson, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

“[There] is more societal progression in acknowledgement that mental health issues exist, as opposed to the 1980’s where stigma predominated and seeking help may have been hidden because of it,” continued Patterson.

Peters had also cited a change in stigma as a possible reason for more students seeking help.

Another cause of this growing number of students seeking help is just that: the numbers.

“One of the biggest reasons why college and university counseling services are seeing an increase in the number of people requesting help and in the severity of their cases is simply that more people are now attending college,” according to the American Psychological Association.

The APA elaborates, stating that many students who previously may have been unable to attend college due to mental health problems, ranging from developmental concerns to schizophrenia, are now able to attend college due to new treatments and medicine. 

One last cause to look at is the increased diversity of those attending college and the new resources these students have.

“College populations have become more diverse, more first generation, foreign-born, and nontraditional,” said Patterson.

“Of significant impact has been the sweeping changes in technology and the instantaneous transfer of information (and misinformation). The positive aspects have led to the access of more knowledge and exposure to global information. Sharing of information has had the positive effect of normalizing mental health issues, as well as finding support through websites and social media.”