More college students than ever were anxious, depressed, and struggling with suicidal thoughts last school year. It’s a disheartening finding from the Healthy Minds Study (HMS), which conducts an annual online survey of nearly 96,000 college students on 133 American campuses that was released last Friday. However, the study did reveal a potential silver lining: more college students than ever are seeking help.
HMS found that 44% of students reported depression, 37% reported anxiety disorders, and 15% reported having seriously considered suicide, increases of two to three percentage points from winter and spring 2021 data. The rates were the highest in the 15-year history of the survey.
Dr. Justin Heinze, an associate professor in the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan and a principal investigator of the HMS
Although the pandemic might seem like an obvious explanation for the increase in mental unwellness, Heinze cautioned against attributing the upticks solely to COVID-19.
“We’ve been seeing this trend since at least 2015 and perhaps even a little bit before,” he said. “This just seems to be a continuation.”
Societal factors such as gun violence, climate change, and racial injustice may play a role, according to Dr. John Dunkle, senior director of learning and knowledge at The JED Foundation (JED), a non-profit focusing on young adult mental health and suicide prevention. Heinze thought that some portion of the increases could be attributable to better measurement of mental health and a decrease in the stigmatization of mental health problems. He also pointed out that the issues don’t seem to be beginning in college—adolescents have shown similar increases in mental health problems in other surveys.
Although students are clearly struggling, they are also reaching out for help at higher rates than ever before. 37% of students reported having at least one counseling or therapy session in the previous year, a seven percentage point increase from winter/spring 2021. It was the largest improvement since 2018.
