Spend enough time around college students, flip through enough student newspapers, look deep enough on social media and it’s hard to avoid the topic of mental health. College students these days have a lot on their minds: paying tuition and eventually paying back student loans; affording food, housing and personal expenses; finding work in a fast-changing job market. There’s widespread uncertainty — perhaps even pessimism — not only about their own prospects but about the future of the country and planet.
Experts say colleges are facing a “mental health epidemic.” Record numbers of students are seeking treatment for anxiety and depression. They often report feeling overwhelmed by all they have to do. Colleges are grappling with whether to send students home when they have severe mental health problems or treat them on campus. Counseling centers are struggling to meet the demands of students.
Talking about mental health used to be taboo in many circles. No longer. On college campuses, students are quite vocal about the need to reduce the stigma around mental health. And they are increasingly advocating for themselves. As Brianna Anderson, a recent Towson University graduate, said, “Mental health is just as important as physical health. If your mind isn’t right, how can you expect to live life the way you want?”
Even within the last five years, there’s been a marked increase in not just college students but everyone speaking openly about their mental health struggles and seeking out information about anxiety, depression and related topics.
There’s also been an increase in off-campus resources for people struggling with mental health issues.
Against this backdrop, senior journalism students in Towson’s multimedia reporting capstone course started the fall 2019 semester with a common goal: to investigate mental heath in college. Hear about their projects in this video.
In groups of two or three, students pitched, reported and produced enterprise stories covering a range of mental health topics: dyslexia, sleep deprivation, working in college, food insecurity, social anxiety, mental health memes, students of color, bathrooms on campus and relationships.
The topics students examined are, in many cases, interrelated. Working while in school can lead to not getting enough sleep. Food insecurity can lead to anxiety. Students can turn to mental health memes to cope with their problems and poke fun at their lives.
Reporters not only focused on the varied problems with mental health on college campuses, but they also took a solutions journalism approach by examining a range of solutions to these systemic problems. Their reporting led to a range of articles, videos and podcasts — supplemented by student-produced motion graphic videos, infographics, illustrations, maps and more.
Below are short summaries of what teams covered in their projects and how you can learn more about the topics.
Dyslexia
College is stressful. Project deadlines. Exams. Lots and lots of reading. Add on personal responsibilities and it all can become overwhelming — and trigger mental health problems.
Students with a learning disability such as dyslexia, characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities, have to account for the normal causes of stress and anxiety in college in addition to mental health challenges associated with having a learning disability.
These students usually need extra time doing assignments and often face a stigma from having a learning disability. Getting proper accommodations can be a challenge. Approximately one in 10 students has dyslexia, according to Dyslexia International. For students like Billy Vermillion, early intervention is key. However, discovering that dyslexia was leading to behavioral and mental health issues was only the beginning of his journey. While his parents managed to get him the help he needed through middle and high school, Vermillion did not get the help he needed in college.
What challenges do students like Vermillion face to get the proper help they need for learning disabilities like dyslexia, and how effective are university disability support service centers on campuses?
Zoe Adams, Will Farrington and Kevin Watson examine the college experience for students with learning disabilities, and how the transition can be harder for them than the typical student.
Related content:
- Dyslexia is more common than you think
- Transitioning to life after high school
- Colleges enlist peer mentors to make campuses more welcoming to neurodivergent students
- The crisis in college and university mental health
Food Insecurity
Out-of-state tuition: $20,000. On-campus housing: $7,000. And that’s just the beginning…what are students to do? Many keep their food budget small to avoid running out of money. On average, full meal plans cost around $4,500 a year. At Towson University, a 14-meal-a-week plan, one of the most popular, costs about $5,400 annually. And that still doesn’t cover three meals a day.
As a result, students are skipping meals or turning to unhealthy snacks that leave them hungry. Food is one of the only line items in many students’ budgets that can be decreased if necessary. On top of the challenge of paying for meals, campus dining hours are becoming more restrictive.
Meghan Barber, a Hood College student, found herself struggling to make it to the dining hall during open hours due to her class schedule. Because she couldn’t afford to eat off campus due to the exorbitant costs of college, Barber found herself eating from vending machines, resulting in weight loss of roughly 20 pounds during her freshman year.
Food insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. Across the country, food insecurity is a growing problem. At universities across the country, between 20 and 33 percent of students have reported food insecurity at some point in their college experience, according to CLASP.
Bailey Hendricks and Mary-Ellen Davis report on the growing problem of food insecurity on campus and how colleges and clubs are working to address the problem.
Related content:
- College food insecurity: How big is the problem?
- Tuition or dinner? Nearly half of college students surveyed in a new report are going hungry
- Half of college students are food insecure. Are universities doing enough to help them?
- The hidden crisis on college campuses: Many students don’t have enough to eat.
Social Anxiety
Oral presentations, group projects and asking questions in front of a full class are requirements in many college courses. Students tend to have mixed feelings about these tasks, perhaps even dread them, but usually they accept and do them without second thought.
But not for students like Kristen Herriaz, who said she doesn’t ask questions in front of her class and instead emails her professors after class if she needs clarification on something. She is one of many students who has social anxiety that makes everyday class interactions extremely difficult.
There is more to social anxiety than just the classic example of speaking in front of the class. Sleep disturbances, poor school performance, avoiding school, panic attacks, tantrums, and obsession with perfection are also connected with the mental health disorder, according to International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards.
Taylor Scantling and Maria-Nikka Sitchon explore what it is like to be a student with social anxiety in college, and what students and professors can do to help ease the social anxiety students may feel in the college setting.
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- 25 things every college student should know about Dealing with Social Anxiety
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- Heading to college with social anxiety
Mental Health Memes
One meme is captioned, “When my mental health is suffering and my friends ask if I need anything.” Below the caption the picture shows a smirking guy with a mic with subtitles, “And I said no, you know, like a liar.” Another meme is captioned, “Anxiety: What if this happens? Me: But it won’t. Anxiety: But what if it does?” The picture below the caption shows a guy coming to a realization with the subtitle, “You got me there.” A third meme is captioned, “Me: I’m finally starting to feel happy. My depression:” The picture shows a screaming cartoon character with the subtitle “You WHAT” coming out of its mouth.
What do all of these memes have in common? They are all focused on mental health — and, more specifically, making light of it. Students across the country are laughing at mental health memes that poke fun at issues such as anxiety and depression. These are very serious subjects, yet for some, these memes may be therapeutic.
These days, more students than ever are turning to social media for help — and some may see it as a cost-free replacement for therapy. Mental health meme creator Trent Gosnay said that he creates memes as an outlet to express his feelings and current mood. Danny Pumphrey said when he sees mental health memes it helps him remember he isn’t alone with his mental health issues. It helps him remember there are others just like him.
Andrea Duran, Sarah Malik and Keith Runk Jr. report on the rise of mental health memes and the effect they have on students. They find that some people are disturbed and triggered by mental health memes, but for others these memes can give them a lift and help them through the day.
Related content:
- Unpacking the rise of mental health memes
- We wouldn’t be making jokes about heart disease
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Sleep Deprivation
How many hours of sleep did you get last night? It’s a question that people ask all the time. If you ask college students, however, you might wince at their answers. You’re likely to hear them rationalize why they get between three to six hours of sleep regularly, which is a far cry from the eight to 10 hours recommended for college-age students. A lot of them say they don’t need as much sleep as most people or they plan to “catch up on it over the weekend.”
Sleep isn’t something to mess with and it isn’t something you can catch up on. People’s sleep habits greatly affect their mental health. According to Towson University professor and sleep specialist Tamara Burton, not getting enough sleep raises one’s chance of having anxiety or depression, and exacerbates existing issues. Maddie Gorman, a Towson University graduate, felt those effects when in college. Gorman said she often slept about three hours a night in college and her mental health was the worst it has ever been.
Burton notes that bad sleep habits in college don’t just have short-term effects, but can have long-term effects on your body. Still think you don’t need sleep?
Nick Shelly and Nick Sterling examine the effects of not getting enough sleep in this podcast.
Related content:
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- College students aren’t getting nearly enough sleep
- Sleep and mental health
- Causes and consequences of sleepiness among college students
Working in School
Whether it’s eight hours a week or 40, more college students are getting jobs to make sure they can stay afloat financially. A lot of students are forced to work because they have to live off campus, they have their own car and are paying the average of $26,000 a year that it costs to attend a public university. With tuition costs rising much faster than wages, students can’t afford to just focus on their studies.
As a result, these students usually don’t have enough time in the day to take care of themselves. Not only does their physical health suffer but so does their mental health. Students at Towson are stressed about balancing work and school, according to Brendan Straub, Kaylea Granville and Christina Hershey. These reporters — who all work while attending classes — asked fellow working students about their experiences. Among their findings: Students aren’t sleeping enough, are having a hard time focusing on school and find that their mental health has deteriorated. In their podcast, the reporters share students’ stories and pose the question: What can universities do to help?
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Students of Color
Why do students of color sometimes have a hard time talking about the issues that cause a strain on their mental health? Often, their families are dismissive and unwilling to listen. And in many cases, as a result, students perceive mental health problems as a personal weakness. In many communities mental health continues to be a taboo topic. Students of color on college campuses are speaking out.
Another common issue facing students of color: microaggressions. These are indirect, subtle or unintentional biases against members of a marginalized group. They can seem minor, but the comments, often based on racial or cultural stereotypes, can be hurtful to the recipient. According to The Harvard Gazette, microaggressions are a “thousand little cuts” that attack us daily and can affect interpersonal interactions with people outside of the targeted group. Graduate student DeAundre Bumpass experienced this type of comment when he was asked if he was attending his university on an athletic scholarship because he’s a tall black man.
Lurene Heyl, Raquel Alfaro and Melissa Gessner discuss these topics and more in their stories.
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- Stigma regarding mental illness among people of color
- Breaking down barriers between students of color and campus mental health services
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All-gender bathrooms
Among the most dangerous places on college campuses for transgender and gender-nonconforming students are bathrooms and locker rooms designated for “women” and “men.” Students report feeling unwelcome and — in some cases — unsafe. What can colleges do to help?
Increasingly, they are adding all-gender bathrooms across campus — something that transgender and gender-nonconforming students report is a top priority. Melissa Gessner examines this topic in a mini-documentary about inclusive bathrooms on Towson’s campus.
Related content:
- More than just bathrooms
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Relationships
Relationships can be stressful. They can often cause anxiety. But just as often, people enter into relationships with existing anxiety, depression and other mental health issues (often unrelated to dating life). How can partners be supportive? It’s a question that few people think about. But many partners are faced with the challenge of helping their loved one overcome mental health struggles.
Raquel Alfaro and Lurene Heyl examine this issue by interviewing young adults facing this challenge and a psychologist who often counsels people in relationships who have a mental health challenge. Among the reporters’ findings: Being in a relationship with someone dealing with mental health can be a learning process for both partners. It takes patience, understanding, time and communication.
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