Rising Stress Levels

Considering that my spring break has just begun and I am gone on vacation, I haven't had much time to update the blog.  For this I apologize and, at least for me, it makes me sad.  I enjoy updating at least once a week (hopefully more).  However, I have found some time to post up an article I have found on rising stress levels in college students.  It focuses mainly on economic worries for students and their families while they are attending college.  For those of you looking for help, there is a great list of small things to do on the left side of the page.  My next post will focus on these stress / depression management techniques and will support them with articles from around the web, so that's something to look forward to.

The article can be found here.

Mental Health Screening

More findings about mental illness is presented in a site created by the State of New York by their Office of Mental Health.  The information under the heading "Findings" gives more statistics and once again stating that mental health screenings should be provided.  Moving down to the heading "Voluntary Mental Health Screening for College Students", they begin to talk about how the internet is popular among this age group and should be used more often for mental screenings.  A site called ULifeline connects students to their college's counseling center based around the anonymity of the internet.  Calvin College is not yet set up with ULifeline, a fact that I hope to change within the next couple months.  For those of you not at Calvin College, simply click on the Students button and find your school.

Find the Article Here.

More Mental Illnesses ... Equals Less Funding?

NPR recently reported about the fact that depression is on the rise amongst college students.  However, it goes on to talk about how even though many colleges have counseling centers, many of them seem to be understaffed or work at limited hours.  This creates a problem for those who seek help, since effective counseling helps students tremendously.  The link also contains the morning edition report, a short 4.5 minute listen.

NPR Summary and Broadcast

A recent report in the Los Angeles Times echos this finding in the headline "Colleges Urged to Screen More for Depression".  An obvious result of increases in depression would be to screen more in students to find and detect the early symptoms.  The stress and anxiety upon entering college can be overwhelming for some students and help for these students is critical.

""Depression screening is easy to do," Fleming said. "We know it works, and it can save lives."
Fleming's study is one of a number of recent reports to note a rise in the number of college students diagnosed with depression and other conditions that seem to indicate an overall decline in their emotional state. "

Full Article

Sadly, at the present time, although depression is on the rise, states are feeling the economic crunch and cutting mental health budgets.  This blog does not aim to take a political stance, so here are the facts.  For Michigan, the mental health budget has decreased by $24.5 million in the past three years, a -7.9% change.  For other states or more information please click the link below.

State Mental Health Budgets

A Quick Test and a Few Statistics

With further research into depression, it becomes more and more obvious that this problem is quite large.  Statistics on depression are incredibly surprising in the fact that it is rampant, and despite much knowledge about the illness, tends to go largely untreated.  If you or anyone you know has even the slightest thought that you/they may have a depression problem :: See Depression Information in the previous post for common symptoms :: I suggest taking a screening test.

Depression Screening Test

Depression Statistics:

• 25 percent of college students suffer from some form of diagnosable mental illness.
• 44 percent of American college students reported feeling symptoms of depression.
• About 19 percent of young people contemplate or attempt suicide each year.
• 80 percent of young people that contemplate or attempt suicide exhibit clear warning signs.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death in college students ages 20-24.
• Over two-thirds of young people do not talk about or seek help for mental health problems.

(all statistics found here)

Depression Information From The University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is one of the most prestigious schools in which to get a degree in Psychology.  Logically, then, it makes sense that they should have one of the best websites dedicated to the treatment of mental disorders.  However, when I actually went to the site and began browsing and perusing the information they had, it was more than I thought it could be.  The main site is called Campus Mind Works and I highly recommend browsing the site on your own.

For the purpose of this site, however, here are a couple links directly connected to depression.  The site provides a wonderful overview of what depression is along with common symptoms.

Depression Information

It also provides a large amount of information based around the treatment of mental disorders.  Overviews of treatments including medications, psychotherapy, and brain stimulation are covered.  Resources for further information (simply choose the 'depression' option) are at the bottom.  These resources include organizations, other websites, and interesting books.  These resources are so good that I may feature some of them here later on.

Treatment Options

The Truth About Suicide: Real Stories of Depression in College

An interesting video that I have looked into is called "The Truth About Suicide: Real Stories of Depression in College".  The video was made by The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and contains stories from people who have either tried committing suicide or know of someone who has.  The stories are emotional and show sadness that both leads to suicide and the sadness that suicide causes for those still alive.

Information about the video can be found here.

The video apparently circulates around colleges and universities, so I will try to get the video to Calvin.  Hopefully if this works out I will be able to show the movie at a special showing for anyone who would like to see it.  If not, there are short snipits online that show a very small portion of the video.

A clip can be found here.

The Purpose Of This Blog

This blog aims to educate people about depression, especially college students and their parents.  As a college student myself, I find it important that people realize how widespread depression is amongst 20-24 year olds.  I intend to provide links to interesting websites, reviews of books or films dealing with depression, upcoming dates for speeches and presentations, and much more.  I hope that if you or someone you know is dealing with depression, that this site is beneficial.