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College Mental-Health Woes on the Rise
Feb. 5, 2003 -- College students have more severe mental-health problems than ever before. Campus counseling centers are struggling to keep up, a 13-year study suggests.
Based on data from before the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the study looks at changes seen at the Kansas State University student-counseling center. It's based on 13,257 students seen from 1988 to 2001. The study appears in the February issue of the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
The findings: Students reported more difficulties in 14 of 19 problem areas. Until 1994, the most common problems were what one might expect: relationship woes. But since then, stress and anxiety problems are most common -- and more severe. Lead author Sherry A. Benton, PhD, assistant director of the Kansas Sate University counseling center, notes that students seen in more recent time periods still have normal college-student problems. But now there's an increase in the number of students who also have more severe problems.
"Some of these increases were dramatic," Benton and colleagues write. "The number of students seen each year with depression doubled over the time period, while the number of suicidal students tripled and the number of students seen after sexual assault quadrupled."
Ironically, students are getting less treatment than before. With no budget to increase staff size, counseling-center psychologists spend less time offering treatment and more time writing reports and consulting with outside psychologists, doctors, hospitals, other student services, academic departments, and families.
More severe problems means more sessions with counseling-center psychologists. This is creating a huge financial burden for colleges as well as for students and their families. And because many health plans don't cover serious mental-health problems, students in trouble may soon run out of options.
"Students can quickly reach the point where they are receiving, dollar for dollar, more in psychological services than they paid in tuition and fees," the researchers note. "This is not financially viable, even if clients are charged a considerable per-session fee. With session limits and managed-care pressure outside of the counseling center, referral to other sources may not provide better options."
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