Though there are obvious perks to getting a university education, being a student isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Aside from spending more money each semester than you’ve likely ever seen in one place, crushing academic pressures and being away from home take a toll on one’s mental health.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada released a study that found 6.6 per cent of Canadian university students reported self-harm in the last 12 months and suggested one in five students in Canada had performed some form of physical self-harm at some point in the past.
That’s 20 per cent of everyone enrolled in post-secondary education. Back when I was an undergraduate, that one in five number was reserved for the entire number of people suffering from any form of mental illness whatsoever.
The good news is that while stigma to mental health issues is rapidly decreasing, access to counselling services is on the rise, and new forms of therapy are now available such as puppy therapy, where you de-stress with your four-legged friends. As more and more student-oriented facilities both on and off campus provide those in need with bursaries or other forms of assistance, students increasingly find they have somewhere to turn.
Even though students feel more comfortable coming out and talking about their issues than ever before, it also means the lack of well-being amongst students is greater than ever imagined.
By becoming more accepting of mental health issues as a society, it has become increasingly clear that work is far from over.
In a CBC report on this study, Murray Sang, director of the Student Academic Success Service at the University of Ottawa, cited changes in both society’s regard for education and its destigmatization of mental illness as responsible.
On one hand, he said students feel comfortable accessing student services and talking about their issues among peers and health care professionals, meaning that we hear about it more. But students on average found themselves less resilient to the stresses of post-secondary life, and the transition towards greater independence.
He said many students enter academia having little to no exposure to failure, due to increasingly relaxed high schools that are generous with marks, and parents who are decreasingly harsh with criticism. Everyone gets a gold star.
Though I’m sure you have all heard these causes cited ad nauseum, I believe Sang is on to something.
Upon entering a post-secondary institution, many become overwhelmed with new responsibilities and surprisingly low grades, causing a dramatic shift in their identities. Students’ names get replaced with a series of digits, and for many of us, we become lost in a relatively impersonal sea consisting of more than 30,000 of our closest friends.
The blame has been placed on the schools, society, and the parents. Why not blame Facebook?
In that CBC interview, Sang expressed concern that students have more pressure than ever before, as any down time they manage to scrounge up between assignments and classes is immediately filled with emails, texts, and social media.
Instead of having some quiet time to think and relax, students are tweeting, responding to friend requests, and liking pictures of cats. Though we have more online friends than ever before, students report having fewer and fewer close friends they can actually talk to.
Though things seem to be getting worse, we may be on the right track. We’re talking about it more, and students are getting heard. If nothing else, awareness is a powerful first step to recovery.
