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College students are experiencing all-time high rates of depression, anxiety and suicidality, according to the latest Healthy Minds survey. In the annual survey, which received responses from 96,000 U.S. students across 133 campuses during the 2021–22 academic year, 44 percent reported symptoms of depression, 37 percent said they experienced anxiety and 15 percent said they have seriously considered suicide—the highest rates in the survey’s 15-year history.
However, the survey also showed that students are now getting more help than in the past. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they have received mental health counseling in the past year, a 7 percent increase from 2020. Binge drinking is also down, with 54 percent of respondents saying they haven’t consumed any alcohol in the past two weeks and 17 percent reporting that they consumed alcohol but did not binge drink.
“We need to understand what’s driving rates of depression, anxiety and suicidality in college students, but I’m glad we’re seeing more students accessing services and drawing on other forms of social support,” said Justin Heinze, associate professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a principal investigator of the Healthy Minds Network, in a Michigan press release. “The goal now is to continue to build out these services and support networks, and I think campuses increasingly recognize they are in good positions to do so.”
