Starting college means the beginning of acquiring new responsibilities, such as, time management, making your own decisions as far as declaring a major, what you decide to devote your free time to. These are responsibilities you might have not been exposed to before entering the college atmosphere. This can easily become overwhelming especially to those who are new to it. Maintaining a healthy mind is important because it is a key component to making it through these very stressful four years. Mental Health can be simply defined as a person’s well being in regards to their emotions and psychological state. Mental illness can disrupt this state and if left untreated can lead to deeper health issues. Depression is the most common mental illness and can be easily treated with antidepressants. The only obstacle is that those suffering from it are sometimes unaware they are suffering from the disease. They don’t take the symptoms seriously and often avoid speaking to someone about the symptoms they are experiencing. Another common disease amongst college students is anxiety disorders. Since you are overwhelmed with a number of things its normal to have anxiety but if the attacks continue to happen more frequently this can be a sign of a serious problem. Bipolar disorder can also be common on college campuses, also a result of the overwhelming responsibility that you are faced with while in school. Bipolar disorder is when your emotions and action tend to change within an instant, making it impossible to control them. All of these can be a result of a raise in stress level, something you can thank college for. Maintaining a healthy mind is the first part of guaranteeing that you will be successful in your college career.

Depression is a common disease that can affect those of all ages, often the symptoms of depression are very mind making them almost impossible to distinguish. Those being affected often ignore the symptoms or they attempt to deny them in hopes that they will go away. In reality this could be doing more harm to you. Seeking help when first signs begin to appear is the best thing you can do for yourself this will keep the disease from becoming more serious and leading to later health complications. Depression is the most common mental illness on college campuses because of the tremendous amount of stress they are forced to endure over the months while in school. It is often common to feel as though you won’t be able to complete assignments on time or that you will struggle to perform well on exams. These feelings can lead to depression. Depression can become very serious when you start to have bigger symptoms such as suicidal thoughts or lack of motivation and an inability to complete assignments resulting a  decline in your grades.

Often when overwhelmed my responsibility many students turn to substance abuse to help cope with their feelings.  the most common substances being alcohol and drugs such as marijuana and over-the-counter prescription pills. The use of these substances can be the beginning deeper problems, when combined with depression can result a permanent damage. “In this context, many college students experience the first onset of mental health and substance use problems or an exacerbation of their symptoms.” (Pedrelli, 2015) Especially on college campuses, it is easy to gain access to drugs which makes them highly depended on by students. They provide an escape from the stress they’re enduring and this escape can become addicting and this is the beginning of an addiction. When treated, treatment can become addicting as well, which makes it hard to treat, often those who attempt to treat it say they feel worse while on medication so they refuse to take it.

Those suffering from these diseases seek help from mental health facilities on their campuses. All campuses provide services to all students, such as counseling and advising. This provides students with a safe and comfortable environment to be able to discuss the problems they may be facing. A Center for Collegiate Mental Health report found that college student’s use of counseling center resources increased by an average of 35 percent over a five-year period, while the average enrollment increased by 5 percent during that time. Meanwhile, the number of students receiving counseling for anxiety rose from 18 to 30 percent over the past four years, according to the 2017 CCMH annual report. This proves that the amount of students suffering from mental diseases such as depression is becoming more common and schools aren’t doing enough to support those in need. Students are beginning to rely on their centers to help get them through this time and they most wouldn’t be able to make it through the years without this kind of support. “Previous researchers have documented a high prevalence of mental health concerns and a steady high demand for counseling services among today’s college students (Fink, 2014; Kirsch, Doerfler, & Truong, 2015). Students present complex concerns that are disruptive to their college experience (Fink, 2014). In fact, an estimated 10.4% of today’s students visit college counseling centers for mental health needs—and many of these students might be unlikely to achieve successful academic outcomes without counseling support (Gallagher, 2013). Therefore, we undertook the current study to more fully understand counseling center outcomes on student academic experiences.” (Floss, 2018) Providing counseling and support for students has shown an increase in the students ability to perform both socially and academically. But, many do not offer the kind of support students many need.

When I began to plan for this paper I had an idea on how I would get the best information to support my claim. I went to visit the student center at City College to meet with a counselor hoping that I could speak to someone who I could interview. My plan was to ask a few questions about what services the school provided for student who needed help.  I was greeted by a woman sitting at the front desk, I informed her of my plan and she told me I had to email the office to see if there was a concealer available to be interviewed. That same day I sent a detailed email discussing what kind of meeting I would like to arrange. I never received an email back. The failure to respond to my email made me question if those who are reaching out for help get the same treatment. Are they greeted the same ? Are they told to send an email stating what they’re struggling with? Are they ignored? These are all questions that should be answered because this can be someone’s decision to give up on their responsibilities because of the lack of support from their school community. Even though my email clearly stated that this was a source for a paper I was writing that lack of acknowledgment is alarming and made me think of how other schools handle their students who suffer from diseases like this one. Most of the other CUNY websites have a similar layout to City College. “The professional counseling and student development staff can help you with many issues—questions about the College, academic or personal problems or other concerns which may be interfering with your success at City Tech.” (City Tech website, 2019) similar to what is said on City colleges website. It is hard to distinguish which college is truly providing the most amount of support to its students until you have an encounter with the counseling center.

It is important that colleges make it aware to students that they have the support they need to make it through the toughest times. Mental Health is something that is often overlooked and not take seriously but its real and millions of students face it worldwide. I’ve recently had my own battle with mental health and it caused a bump in my academic career, and it’s like a ripple effect and often leads to an imbalance in your life, and without knowing there are people who are there to support you and guide you back to your path it can lead to permanent damage. It is also important for students to utilize the services being provided to them as much as possible. You should never feel embarrassed or ashamed to admit that you need help or someone to talk to. Making counseling more accepted in society will lead to more students admitting they need help. This starts with us being more accepting and supporting those who might face these issues making them feel comfortable with being open about their problems. This starts by ensuring that counselors are available at all times for college students.