Jaime Park, Sara Miller

Elizabeth Sogunle
ENGL395
Problem Definition Essay

Mental Health Education and Assistance on College Campuses

In the daily life of college students, there are seemingly endless challenges that one must

accomplish. School, work, and extracurriculars are just a few of the many tasks that must be

completed usually within a days work. Due to the many demands that are expected from

students in universities, its easy for them to forget to take care of themselves. Among the many

health concerns that todays college students face, mental health issues are arguably the most

important and unfortunately, the most overlooked. After determining mental health as an area

that needed improvement on our campus, our group set out to figure out what specific problems

lead to mental health illnesses. Through our empathy and background research we discovered

that many students were not seeking help for mental health problems or were having difficulty

accessing resources. We found that college students generally require an improved way to access

mental health care because there is a lack of knowledge of mental health resources and the

educational methods employed by the administration are fairly ineffective.

Mental health encompasess our social, physical, and psychological well-being and

impacts one throughout every stage of life (What is Mental Health 1). It is determined by a

variety of factors including biological conditions, life trauma or stress, and family history. For

college students, mental health affects their social, academic, and vocational wellness. Many

students report feeling overwhelmed and having difficulty balancing different aspects of their

life. Through our research, we found that different groups of students have different needs in
regards to mental health. College students in general would benefit from increased access to

mental health. In addition, students of different multicultural backgrounds that have different,

perhaps old-fashioned, views on mental health would benefit from increased awareness. Many

students whose parents or grandparents came from different countries often arent aware of the

symptoms of mental health, much less the entire concept of mental health itself. Thus, its much

harder for those students to be aware and take action when it is needed. Finally, the

administration could focus their efforts and funds into giving their students more effective

educational methods to improve the mental health of the student body. Throughout this paper, we

will discuss the prevalence of mental health issues among the previously mentioned

stakeholders. We will also not disclose some of the names of our participants due to the

sensitivity of our topic.

The average college student often feels overwhelmed by the pressures and expectations

arising from academics, social circles, and health. Despite universities running educational

programs to inform students about these illnesses and provide resources, many students do not

seek help. One in four adults ages 18 and older have a diagnosable mental illness. In addition,

nearly one third of college students have reported depression that impacts their function and 80%

have felt overwhelmed (The Issue: Student Mental Health 1). According to Ray Nardella,

Resident Director at the University of Maryland, College Park, mental health conditions have

been increasing across all aspects since he began working in student affairs. This includes

everything from anxiety to suicides, and its important to remember that these are just the

reported cases. In situations like these, its important to think about the reason why such illnesses

go unreported. One of the most significant factors preventing students from seeking mental

health care on college campuses is stigma. Stigma is a mark of disgrace and reproach
(Healthypeople). Family and friends, cultural expectations, and self-stigma can all contribute to a

persons resistance to accepting and seeking mental health treatment (Watson and Corrigan 1). In

fact, stigma is the number one reason why students do not seek mental health services (College

Students Speak: A Survey on Mental Health 4).

Despite current data and research that shows that mental health is a problem, many

students still do not see mental health as a pressing issue. One of our interviewees stated that

mental health was not a problem in the community that he is a part of and due to that, he did not

understand the urgency. In another interview, an interviewee stated that he didn't see the point of

increasing funding to mental health initiatives on campus. In society today, many people have

different perspectives on what mental health is and what it isn't. In many instances, people do not

believe that it is a health issue that needs a lot of attention. We saw this same rationale in some of

our interviewees. Mental health is often not taken seriously due to the different stigmas that are

placed on mental health. Due to this, we noted that there needs to be a campus wide education of

what mental health and the importance of mental health education and resources on our campus.

Improving mental health on campus benefits multiple groups. College students will

benefit from improving the mental health systems that are currently on our campus. With mental

health care, students are less likely to drop out of school and have better grade point averages

(The Issue: Student Mental Health 1). Improving the mental health on campus also benefits the

way that students will interact with each other. Often times, students who face mental health

illnesses tend to shy away from social interactions they deem unnecessary. Its possible that their

illness leads them to become more isolated, which in turn worsens the illness.

Within these students, students of various cultural backgrounds are also impacted.

Multicultural students face many issues such as prejudice, stigmatization, and cultural aspects
that impact their decision to seek help. We found that the culture that a person comes from

impacts their ability to find access to mental health help. Not only that, but also it makes it harder

for people to get diagnosed with mental illnesses. From one of our interviews, an interviewee

stated the stress and the pressure that comes from her family simply based off of the culture they

are from. Many cultures do not recognize mental health to be an actual problem to be focused on

and one that needs medical attention. Its often normalized as just having a bad day, or being

too sensitive about something. In families and homes where the parents have immigrated to the

United States, children who may go through mental health illnesses would be ridiculed by the

parents if brought up. In an interview conducted with a daughter of a first generation immigrant

(thus making her second generation), the interviewee often said her depression and anxiety was

looked down upon by her parents. She said her parents often recalled their own hardships to

compare with hers, and they would bring up that they never suffered from depression despite

going through tougher times. Due to this, students from different cultural backgrounds often

have mental illnesses that go undiagnosed. They feel as if they should suck it up and just deal

with it, or they have no awareness of their own mental health illness at all. After analyzing all

the factors that we found, it is imperative that there is a drastic improvement for education and

awareness for mental health that are in place on this campus.

Finally, the administration would benefit with better educational methods as they could

focus their funds into effective methods and improve mental health among students on campus. It

is imperative that the administration recognizes the need for mental health health on this campus

and find ways to fill in the gap. From many of the interviews that we conducted, we found that

students are flustered with the lack of support thats coming from the administration when it

comes to mental health problems. One of our interviewees complained about upon booking a
counseling appointment with the mental health counselors, there was a 4 weeks wait time. This

poses problems for students who are in need for help, but the need isn't necessarily urgent. These

are the reasons why it is essential for the administration to pay attention to the mental illness

issues that present on this campus and make improvements.

After gathering valuable information on many college students experiences with mental

health illness, both direct and indirect, it is self-evident that there is a common problem. The

popular phrase Ignorance is bliss is often used to avoid knowing information to preserve ones

particular state of mind. However, in the case of mental health, ignorance is certainly not a good

thing. In many of our interviews, many of the problems that arose seemed to have stemmed from

lack of awareness and proper education on mental health illnesses. The stigmas of depression and

anxiety are due to lack of education. Older generations and foreign families did not have the

resources nor the dialogue to understand and educate themselves on the reality of mental health.

Its very easy to tape a flyer on depression and anxiety on the door of a bathroom stall, but its

effectiveness of helping college students become aware and educated are questionable.

Here at the University of Maryland, there are mental health systems that are currently in

place but needs to be improved on. The University Health Centre provides students with many

resources that will help them cope with different experiences students go through. The university

provide not only mental health screening, counseling, and different programs that promote

mental wellness. Not only that, but the university has peer educators that are student educators in

the topic of stress and mental health. These peer educators are responsible for going into

classroom, events, clubs, sorority and fraternity houses and educating the campus about different

stress and mental health issues and coping methods. At the health centre, they provide students

who are experiencing mental health emergencies resources and support to get better. Despite all
the resources that are available through the health centre, there is a lot more that needs to be

done.

Resources

http://www.activeminds.org/issues-a-resources/the-issue

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health/index.html

https://www.nami.org/getattachment/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Survey-

Reports/College-Students-Speak_A-Survey-Report-on-Mental-Health-NAMI-2012.pdf

http://www.healthyplace.com/stigma/stand-up-for-mental-health/what-is-stigma/