Some university students are drowning in psychological distress and many are not seeking specialist help as new research shows the student life is not as carefree as it might appear.
More than half the 384 students who attended one university health service at a large Queensland urban university last October, reported mild to very high levels of psychological distress, including depression and anxiety.
Distressed students suffered serious disruptions to their education and emotions, on average, being unable to work or study for eight days in a month and at reduced capacity for an additional nine days.
These results, to be published in the journal Australian Family Physician, are believed to be one of the few studies to measure the mental health of students attending a university health service.
More than a quarter of students (26 percent) were likely to have a mild disorder with about 16 percent likely to have a moderate disorder and another 16 percent likely to have a severe mental disorder.
About 65 percent of distressed students had not accessed any support services or treatments.
Most patients were full-time, female undergraduates aged between 18-24 years old.
Study author Dr Helen Stallman, a clinical psychologist and researcher with UQ’s School of Psychology, said she was worried and surprised that so many students were distressed and not seeking help.
Dr Stallman said students were stressed by many factors such as academic demands, increased freedom, risky behaviours, balancing family and work commitments, financial pressures, even cultural and language differences and social isolation.
“This study highlights the importance of general practitioners working with tertiary students, within a university or community setting, to be aware that many students presenting with physical problems may also be experiencing mental health problems,” Dr Stallman said.
She said more students at Brisbane’s largest universities would be surveyed this year to see if the level of psychological distress was more widespread.
She believed students needed more support services and was working on developing an online intervention program to promote student resilience.
“If these numbers are consistent across all university students and this many people are distressed, it is difficult to find sufficient resources to treat people, so we really need to take a prevention approach.”
Dr Stallman agreed not to disclose which university and patients were studied.
MEDIA: Dr Stallman (+61 7 3365 7304, helen@psy.uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (07 3365 2619)
