Thirty-two percent of college students have received some form of mental health counseling in their lifetime, a study released yesterday by NASPA and the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Pennsylvania State University reported.
The researchers conducted web-based surveys of a random sample of 21,000 students, the majority of whom were not in treatment for a mental health disorder.
The office of Counseling and Psychological Services is unsure whether the survey's findings hold true at the University because only nine percent of the student body visits the office every year, CAPS director Russ Federman said.
University students primarily seek counseling for depression, Federman said. He added that the competitive college environment may contribute to this trend.
The survey also found students were more likely to seek help with personal issues pertaining to anxiety and stress rather than violence or substance abuse, a pattern which also seems to exist at the University.
"If a student is drinking three to four nights a week, from a mental health professional's perspective it's maladaptive, but the student may say, 'Well, that's just college life [and] everyone's doing it,'" Federman said.
Ben Locke, executive director of Pennsylvania State's Center for the Study of Collegiate Mental Health, said universities need to be aware of college students suffering from mental health issues.\n"Universities need to recognize that more and more students are coming with more severe issues," he said.
Mental health issues should not stop University students from doing well in college, Locke added.
"This doesn't mean that they can't be successful," he said. "It just means they might need extra support"
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