College Students’ Depression: Its Causes And Treatment

The existing methods of helping depressed students at colleges are no longer helpful and are really damaging to them. Most likely, the majority of students are uncomfortable asking for help when they have a problem. Additionally, they lack the self-care skills necessary to cope with depression, so they develop poor behaviors in an effort to reduce stress. Students begin to lose hope at this time and are unable to pull themselves out without assistance. These students wouldn’t have to turn to bad habits and sink themselves in a pit of despair if institutions provided tools to deal with sadness.

The fact that most students don’t feel comfortable asking for assistance from others, even if they know them, is one of the key justifications for why universities should provide assistance. The individual the kids decided to come to and discuss their issue with should make them feel at ease. The fact that they experience depression will probably make them feel bad about themselves. If they don’t feel embarrassed, they probably don’t know what to say or how to ask for assistance. They also may not know what to do to become well. What’s more, most students probably don’t know their classmates well enough to ask them for aid or know the instructor and staff well enough to turn to them for assistance.

Maybe some counselors and professors might spend some time getting to know the kids and acquaint themselves with them in order to alleviate the uneasy feeling of discussing sadness with someone they don’t know. They feel more comfortable approaching instructors and counselors about the issues they appear to be having if they get to know them on a fairly intimate level. Additionally, it would lessen the embarrassment that some individuals experience while depressed. Students will learn what questions to ask about what’s going on as they grow to know their counselors and professors who are familiar with their sadness. The American College Health Association reports that 10% of college students commit suicide and 95% experience serious depression, thus the institutions may create a psychological service to assist the students (Hui).

Students don’t know how to cope with depression on their own, which is the second key reason universities should provide extra resources to assist students in dealing with their melancholy. The fact that depression sufferers don’t really know how to deal with their mental condition is evident. Because they lack the will to do anything worthwhile, they allow their grades to slip. According to studies, college students who suffer from depression do extremely poorly academically since they lack the energy to complete their assignments (Ebert). Due to their perception that they have failed and will never create something that is appealing to the eye or audible, students also start to distrust their own abilities. Additionally, they quit caring for themselves and never make an attempt to look well. Of course, it doesn’t mean they can’t look great, but their space will appear unkempt, and the majority of the time, they will look unkempt as well.

The RAs should have a meeting to discuss how to cope with depression and what they can do to aid the students in order to help them deal with it on their own. Teachers may pull the kids whose grades have unexpectedly fallen aside and provide additional credit or even study materials to assist them. The RAs may act as a motivating support system for the students, encouraging them to maintain their look and preventing self-doubt. These are but a few methods through which universities might assist students in overcoming depression.

The fact that depressed students form negative habits for themselves is the third primary reason why universities should provide additional resources to assist them. To deal with their despair, they start going out practically every weekend in the hopes of seeming like other college students. In order to survive, students also drink copious quantities of alcohol practically every day. To relax themselves, they start smoking or abusing drugs on a regular basis. According to studies, one of depression’s main side effects is drug misuse (Ebert). They adopt those poor behaviors to deal with the sadness since there isn’t a certain cure for it or the prescription costs too much to purchase.

The institutions should strike a deal with a nearby doctor’s office and devise a scheme to provide students a discount on antidepressants in order to stop this practice. They should control the alcohol and drugs that are brought into campus if they are unable to do that. To reduce the use of alcohol and drugs, RAs should institute obligatory searches. Counselors on campus may hold therapy sessions with students who are fast losing ground in their classes and are suspected of abusing drugs and alcohol severely. These remedies ought to be somewhat helpful in assisting the sad student and returning them to the path of building a successful life.

The fourth and last reason schools should provide more resources to assist students with their depression is because, in the absence of a strong support network, they will plunge into a pit of hopelessness. According to studies, depression among college students increases the likelihood that they may injure themselves (Ebert). Students have developed the belief that if they harm themselves, their negative self-image would vanish. Along with their sadness, the pupils start having sleep problems. A lack of sleep is linked to suicidal thoughts, irritation, poor physical health, difficulty in the classroom, drug misuse, and poor mental health. Students with SD have difficulty falling asleep, remaining asleep, and are generally tired all day (Nyer). Students also start to drift away from their pals because they feel that they would be happier without them since they are too bothersome or needy. Students who experience similar feelings want support and assurance that behaving naturally won’t disturb others.

Colleges should provide a support system to assist these students with these physically and mentally harmful symptoms, whether the system is made up of teachers, counselors, and resident assistants who will visit the students to whom these situations have happened and offer their assistance and become a willing confidant to these students. In order to ensure that students are not injuring themselves, the institutions should introduce required checkups and physicals. Although there isn’t a right or wrong method to deal with sleep interruptions, students who have had SD may be granted some wiggle room on their homework and in-class tasks. Students could realize that they are better than previously when they didn’t have anybody to speak to about these issues if they had someone who won’t condemn them for what goes on in their brains.

In conclusion, since students’ coping mechanisms might be damaging to themselves, universities should develop new strategies to support their depressed students. The university students are unable to manage their depression on their own. To cope with their despair and get through the day, they start to engage in unhealthy coping mechanisms. Students put themselves on a route to a depressing downward spiral and don’t know how to get out of it. The impacts of depression may be decreased and easier for students to handle on a daily basis if institutions provided more resources for students.