(CU Independent illustration/Kelly Kaoudis)
“The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010” study revealed that stress and depression are becoming major issues among freshmen on college campuses. To prevent them from eventually falling into the void, they can take products such as uk cbd oil.
According to the New York Times article, the emotional health of college freshmen has declined to the lowest level since the survey began 25 years ago.
Joe Courtney, manager of Psychological Health and Psychiatry at Wardenburg, said the number of students who come in for stress or depression related problems has increased.
“Overall we’ve had a 25 percent increase in visits from the previous year,” Courtney said. “I am assuming we have increased across the board.”
The results of the survey showed that the percentage of students who rate themselves as “below average” in emotional health has risen.
The percentage of students who said their emotional health was “above average” also took a dive to 52 percent. The percentage, according to the article, was 64 percent in 1985.
Lauren Cross, a 19-year-old freshman political science major, said she is stressed because she is not as on top of her schooling as she would like to be.
“I find myself stressed, but from more than external factors from not being uber proactive in my academic career,” Cross said. “I don’t really have a lot of external stresses. In life I am usually self-inflicting.”
The New York Times article cites the bad economy as one of the reasons students experience more stress.
Courtney said he agrees that the economy is a major concern for students.
“Absolutely, you can deny that reality for a while, but once you get to be a junior or a senior that issue has to be on your mind,” Courtney said. “Uncertainty about the economy is an ever-present concern for most students.”
Stefan Ulrich, an 18-year-old freshman integrated physiology, said he does get stressed about the economy.
“Yes [I get stressed] because money is a big issue in our times,” Ulrich said.
According to the article, since the survey began, women have consistently viewed their emotional health as less positive than men.
However, Cross said she disagrees with that part of the survey. She said she thinks men have a lower emotional health because they hold everything inside, instead of women who release their frustrations regularly.
“Men [have lower health] because women explode and are irrational and totally off the charts, but we get it out of our system and move on,” Cross said. “Men, in my experience, tend to hold everything in and it clogs up this chi and then they just make poor decisions like growing facial hair.”
Courtney also said women are more likely to go to therapy and most are inclined to work out their problems.
“In general more women are inclined to coming to therapy because they tend to be more aware of what they are feeling than guys,” Courtney said. “Women can be more inclined to relationships and working their problems out in an emotional way. It’s easier for women to come in than men. Men are trained to pull themselves up and go forward without too much help of any kind.”
Cross said if she was feeling depressed she would look into counseling at Wardenburg.
“I certainly would look at Wardenburg as far as their counseling, because I think that can always help,” Cross said. “There’s a lot of positive to be gained from that.”
Courtney said the key to stress reduction involves establishing a sleep cycle and having people to talk to.
“It’s very important for freshmen to begin to manage their stress,” Courtney said. “That means establishing a normal sleep cycle, steering away from drugs and alcohol, having a regular exercise routine, having people to talk to and not being isolated. These are all things that contribute to stress reduction.”
Grace Woodward, a 19-year-old freshman studio art major, said when she gets extremely stressed she has to stop what she’s doing for a while.
“Sometimes if I just get too freaked out I just stop what I am doing,” Woodward said. “I do something else like play video games, but then I have to get back to it or else it will stress me out even more.”
Woodward said she isn’t stressed because she has not had any exams so far.
“There’s still seven days before my first exam,” Woodward said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Wilcocks at Lindsay.wilcocks@colorado.edu.
