A new study suggests that financial pressures of being at university are impacting the mental health of students, leading to further services being needed. A leading figure in student mental health, Dr Annie Grant, stated that they are supporting students who normally would have been receiving more regular support, but who are dealing with the effects of NHS cuts, which is leading to more challenges for services to provide the clinical support that students need. It’s important for universities to provide conditions where students can thrive both academically and socially, but six percent of Britain’s 2.49 million students develop mental health problems whilst studying. Despite this, at least 79 percent of universities have dedicated staff to help, but they’re keen to state that they are not an alternative to the NHS when it comes to providing clinical support.
The struggle of finding employment, coupled with the £40,000 debt you leave university with, leads many people to feel concerned. This is linked with the figures which suggest that student suicides rose by 50 percent between 2007 and 2011. The National Union of Students released figures from a recent survey which shows that one in 10 students had experienced suicidal thoughts, and a further 14 percent had considered self harm. 38 percent of those questioned also stated that they’d experienced feelings of panic, as well. Student services have seen a great expansion of provisions for counselling students, with varying problems that range from acute homesickness to more serious problems, including psychosis and schizophrenia.
The changes in one’s lifestyle when they move out of their home and into a student environment can impact people in different ways, and many students experience feelings of depression during this time. Often, people don’t realise or are in denial about their symptoms, which is why services are important in order to help people whose symptoms have developed into more serious conditions. Increasingly, the debt and other concerns in a student’s life are seen to be building to stages that they cannot deal with – it’s vital that the symptoms of mental health problems are publicised so that people are aware of what to look out for.
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