* Anxiety on the Rise Among College Students: A Fresh Perspective on Anxiety and its Role in Prevention

This past week I read an article that stated that more than half of college students in the United States, who visited their college counseling centers during the 2015-2016 academic year, reported anxiety as the reason they came for help. In fact, anxiety was the number one complaint followed by depression.¹ Not only has anxiety overtaken depression as the most reported reason for seeking treatment at college counseling centers, but it has been steadily climbing since 2009. The article went on to discuss how counseling centers have hired more diverse counselors to better represent the make up of their student body. In fact, the main focus of the article was on how counseling centers are trying to hire more ethnically diverse counselors.

I believe there is an important element this article is missing. Focusing on diversity and increasing the number of therapists’ in college counseling centers does nothing to decrease the number of students struggling with anxiety to the point of needing treatment.

If we help students look at anxiety differently, we can prevent the number of students from needing treatment. Anxiety has gotten a bad rap. When did anxiety get labeled as always bad or pathological? Sometimes anxiety is a normal response to our circumstances. In fact, it can even be adaptive. It alerts us to be more aware, can help us focus and physiologically prepare our body for action just to mention a few of the benefits.

College is a time of tremendous change. Students are typically living away from their families for the first time and needing to learn how to navigate living with people who grew up quite differently from them. Many students show up to college not knowing anyone so new relationships need to be formed. Moreover, there are expectations and demands being placed on them and for many it is the first time they have to navigate how to juggle all of these new responsibilities on their own. Course work is more challenging, relationships are new and students are often trying to figure out who they are. You bet college is stressful! In fact, recent research shows that 84% of college freshman report feeling anxious.² My response to this is, “Of course they are feeling anxious! That is normal, not pathological.”

If we prepare students to meet these challenges before they leave for college we can prevent the flood of anxious students seeking services. I believe the earlier we start preparing children to be responsible and resilient in the face of challenges, the better. If we don’t catch them in elementary school, high school is not too late.

We know from research how we perceive the circumstances in our life will determine our reactions to them. The stressors of college will likely not change. We can however help students become more resilient in the face of the normal stressors they will face. If I believe stress and anxiety are bad, I will likely experience a more debilitating reaction then if I recognize it as normal.

For example, if I think, “Wow, I feel overwhelmed by having to juggle all my classes and living in a dorm with people I don’t know. This is hard. I can’t do this!” I will likely panic which will affect my ability to manage the demands of college.

If however I think, “Wow, I am stressed by having to juggle all my classes and living in a dorm with people I don’t know. This is hard and it is normal to be stressed. I am not alone in feeling this way. I got this. I will eventually adapt to it all and figure it out. ” I will have a completely different reaction to the stress I am facing. I will have an adaptive response to stress. In fact, my brain will release chemicals in my brain that will actually help me focus, give me energy and help me perform. This perspective will also help me become more resilient.

We live in a world that wants to create “awareness” of certain problems and find the best “treatment” or “solutions” to those problems. For example, we need more trained therapists to help anxious students. I believe this is the tail wagging the dog. Why don’t we spend time on prevention? If we prevent, there will be less need for treatment and solutions.

There will always be a need for treatment and as a Psychologist, I believe in the effectiveness of treatment. To truly have the dog wag the tail however, I think we need to spend more time than we currently do focusing on prevention. Let’s prepare our youth for the challenges they will face in college and life in general and reduce the number of students needing treatment.

References:

1. Tate, E. Anxiety on the Rise: Inside Higher ED. March, 2017.

2. CIRP Freshman Survey, 2016. www.heri.ucla.edu/publications-tfs.