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A recent study by The Healthy Minds Network included responses from 96,000 college students in the United States at 133 campuses during the 2021-22 school year. The study found high rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. The study found 44% of the respondents reported symptoms of depression, 37% reported high anxiety, and 15% said they have considered suicide.
Let’s put it this way: two out of every five college students experienced some sort of depression and nearly that many experienced high anxiety.
But students are also getting more help than ever before: 37% of respondents saying they have received mental health counseling in the past year.
Mental health has become a very real issue at college campuses across the country and the University of Findlay is no exception. The UF Counseling Center earlier this semester received approval to hire an additional counselor to help deal with the increased numbers of students looking for help.
The COMM251 Newswriting class had a serious discussion about the prevalence of mental health concerns among their peers and decided to explore the issue further. This resulted in a six-part series on mental health at UF, which will be published over the next few weeks.
- Ashley Graham explores mental health issues and UF athletes and what the University’s role is in providing care.
- Bella Angel explores how professors individually respond to students’ mental health and how the University equips them to deal with the issue.
- Devyn Hopkins reports on how professors in the College of Education teach education majors about how to address mental health with their future students.
- Sam Rohrs looks at how COVID may or may not have accelerated the mental health crisis.
- Paige Falk reports on how students feel social media affects their mental health.
