Study finds mental health issues pervasive on college campuses, including CU
It seems college students today are dealing with more complex psychological and mental problems than ever before. These problems can be as typical as difficulties in a relationship or a bad test grade and may stretch to more severe problems such as depression and thoughts of suicide.
According to Martha Anne Kitzrow, author of the paper “The Mental Health Needs of Today’s College Students: Challenges and Recommendations,” mental illness and psychological issues may begin to arise in a person’s college years because of a variety of social and cultural factors such as family dysfunction, instability, poor parenting skills, poor frustration tolerance, violence, alcohol and poor interpersonal attachments.
In light of the Virginia Tech shootings on April 16, education about mental health in relation to college students has become an important issue that has been brought to the table by psychologists across the country.
“We need to start by looking at the population of the college-aged group and compare disconnectedness behavior to connectedness behavior,” said Dr. Alex Panio, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology and is the president and founder of Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado.
Panio describes connectedness behavior to be associated with how a person functions and how well one can adapt to new relationships. Also, connectedness refers to whether or not a person feels confident in themselves, stable, important, valued and if they are feeling nurtured or not.
Disconnectedness, as believed by Panio, begins in childhood and does not just spring up in college. This behavior is associated with a person feeling desperate to make connections and a sense of wanting to feel integrated socially with the community. To some it can be painful, disappointing and threatening because they have a feeling of being abandoned.
Panio said that it is when this feeling of abandonment takes over a person that they may start to react to different stimulants that can satisfy their feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Although the computer is a great technological advancement for many, this electronic device can aid in this feeling of disconnectedness to society and reality.
Panio said he believes students that turn to the electronic circuit for comfort often begin to have this star gazing affect. The person can become a hero on the computer to someone out in cyberspace but in reality, they become more cynical and mistrusting because they are less comfortable dealing with real people and real rejection.
According to Panio, this feeling of isolation can also be stimulated in the college setting, at which point a person is constantly trying to define themselves. If a student is feeling alone and isolated, they may start to shut down.
In this shutting-down process, signs of psychological disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may emerge after being hidden since childhood.
“Problems don’t just begin in college. It is the baggage you bring to college that starts to take over,” Panio said. “Everything we saw at Virginia Tech was a reflection of how this kid felt about himself: he did not feel valued. In his writings he was writing for attention because he was scared and wanted someone to save him.”
People who do not feel valued and who suffer from a mental illness begin to look at things in a different light and question who they are, why they are here and what good they are doing for themselves or other people.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Web site, a health assessment was conducted by the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment in spring 2006, which covered nearly 95,000 students on 117 campuses.
Of those 95,000, 16 percent of the students reported that on at least five occasions during the preceding academic year, they had felt so depressed it was difficult to function. More than nine percent had seriously considered suicide, and one in every 100 had attempted suicide in the previous year.
Panio expressed the seriousness of mental health problems on college campuses and explained how they can affect all aspects of a student’s physical, emotional, cognitive and interpersonal functioning and may lead some to anger and rage.
“Kids would do less damage to others if they had more of an audience before hand,” Panio said.
In regards to isolation and depression, a student may feel inclined to react abrasively in order to get his/her point across that they need help. Panio said the first step in getting help is admitting that you need it in the first place, which is hard. If a person does not feel like they have anyone safe to turn to, they may continue to slowly shut down and block people out of their life who are trying to get in.
Sarah Perzow, a sophomore psychology major, said this was part of her problem back when she was in high school. Perzow suffered from severe obsessive compulsive disorder, which enabled her to focus in class and in turn caused her to act out more than usual at home. It was not until her mother stepped in and took her to a psychiatrist that she began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“If (my mother) hadn’t taken me (to the psychiatrist) I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Perzow said. “Just talking to someone who knows a lot about mental health can give everyone a lot of insight on what is normal and what is not.”
Talking to someone can help change a person’s mental state, according to Panio. He expressed the importance of students utilizing counseling centers on campuses because they are set up to help students work through their mental and psychological illnesses and provide a new form of innovation and strategies.
On CU’s campus, Wardenburg Health Center provides counseling through the Psychological Health and Psychiatry Program. Any CU student may receive treatment and counseling through the program. The cost varies as to what health insurance coverage each individual has.
Ryan Wendling, an administrative assistant for the Psychological Health and Psychiatry Program, said they provide individual and group psychotherapy for mental illnesses.
“Our top three disorders that we treat are anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders,” Wendling said.
According to Kitzrow, counseling for a mental illness at the college level should offer more immediate and accessible appointments, especially for students in crisis, by providing phone consultations and evening and drop-in appointments. Also she explains the importance of peer counselors and graduate interns who can be important resources that allow counseling centers to serve more students.
If you or a person you know may be suffering from a mental illness or depression please visit This is a Link for more information on how to get help and what signs to look for.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Elizabeth Stortroen at elizabeth.stortroen@thecampuspress.com.
