By Jordyn Jones
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
College students traditionally battle feelings of loneliness, stress, anxiety, and depression and now health experts say that the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the mental health challenges faced by these undergraduates.
A 2019 survey found that 35% of college students struggled with their mental health in some capacity. About 58% of college students admitted to feeling overwhelming anxiety during their time at college with some pointing to their academic course load.
These feelings were increased dramatically during quarantine months after the survey and before the deadly COVID-19 infections began its journey through the United States and the rest of the world. The pandemic forced a multitude of changes in a short period of time on college campuses with some students being sent home without advance notice.
With colleges and dorms closing, students found themselves expected to succeed in a completely different learning format.
Aniya Martin, a senior at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, described the switch from college life to a life in quarantine at home as abrupt
“Super abrupt switching from being on campus to being at home,” said Martin, who found herself having to adjust from living in a dorm surrounded by friends to living at home with her mother and older sister.
Martin explained that she felt a loss of independence and freedom because of COVID-19. Soon, she said she found herself slipping back into her high school ways and not using the independence skills that she had developed for the past three years at college.
“My life during quarantine was a lot less carefree and I definitely fell back into that daughter role,” Martin said.
Towson University health officials denied requests for interviews and information on the mental health challenges experienced by students on campus. However, Marcia Morris, a psychiatrist at the University of Florida with more than 20 years of experience providing care to university students, explained the severity of the college mental health crisis in a blog post titled: Defeating Depression in College Students During Covid-19.
“The college students I see as a campus psychiatrist are facing challenges that surpass what I witnessed during the Great Recession of 2008,” she said.
College students experienced a sudden change in social stimulation. Some explain that their lives went from lunch on the quad with friends on campus, in-person classes, and other traditional aspects of college to little to no interaction with people outside of their families. The same survey found 60.5% of college students revealed they had felt lonely, a common sign of depression, during their time on campus. Health experts now point to evidence that these feelings of college students increased during quarantine.
Emerson Latshaw, a junior Mass Communications major and sociology minor at Towson University, said that while she has enjoyed the time with her parents and younger brother, she felt isolated during quarantine. On campus, Latshaw lived in an off-campus apartment with friends. She also noticed that schoolwork weighed heavier on her since there was nothing else to do.
“Even though you were with your family, you felt alone a lot more because you were cut off from everyone else,” Latshaw said. “It felt kind of claustrophobic.”
Skyler Spinelli, a junior Mass Communications major at Towson, had similar experiences.
“The lack of in-person classes and human interaction has negatively impacted so many people’s mental health and overall emotional well-being, including my own,” said Spinelli.
Martin described herself as an extrovert who draws her energy from being around others. Being quarantined took that away from her, she said.
“I’m a very extroverted person so quarantine was very hard on me socially,” Martin said. “Social interactions were weird with social distancing and such. It was also really hard not being able to see my friends.”
Martin was impacted in another way too. Since high school, she said she has worked but found herself a victim to the job shortage. Now, as a college student, Martin said she has been forced to find creative ways to make money. When her job as a swim instructor evaporated, her babysitting jobs also were few and far between because most people were forced to stay home.
“In the beginning, it was very quiet,” said Martin, “everyone was too scared to let somebody in their house. Bringing me in, a college student especially, it was a big risk to them and their children. So, for a while, I was not working.”
For those college students who worked on campus, going home meant loss of financial independence.
Morris added, “While families again struggle financially and students face employment uncertainty, they now fear losing their loved ones to COVID. They contend with an epidemic of loneliness, having fewer face-to-face interactions with other students due to social distancing measures. Some freshmen find they are not forming the friendships that will support them through their college years.”
All is not lost, according to Morris, who said there are a multitude of things that can be done to combat this crisis. For example, she said that exercise and routine are two.
“Making sure to eat well, have ample sleep, and exercise have proven to greatly impact mental health,” she said. “In some cases, therapy or medication could prove useful as well.”
In another blog post titled, “The End of College Loneliness During Covid.” Morris expressed the importance of connection.
“Having a meet-up in a park, zoom calls, and other ways of connecting to friends are just as important now as they were before the pandemic,” she said.