American universities are heading straight into a crisis mode and more students will suffer if a change is not promoted quickly. College is meant to be a privilege in a young adult’s life; a time to gain concentrated knowledge in a career path of their choosing. Long ago, only a select few would continue schooling for such a long time but as time proceeds on more people are able to continue their education. The thousands of colleges and universities across the country are all so different and there is a wide variety of types of schools that almost everyone is likely to pick a school of their liking. There is one thing that all of these schools have in common no matter their size, rating, or location and it is that the students that are attending are in need of a change to help their mental state. Physiatrist centers at universities need to keep up with the growing cases of mental illness diagnoses and increasing crisis cases. College is supposed to be a transition buffer from grades K-12 to the working world. This is extremely alarming because it is not supposed to be the cause of breakdowns, but should build up a young adult to be confidently prepared for their career life ahead. With increasing record levels that are being beat each year of different cases there is no say where the situation will go. It is even scarier knowing “the majority of college student mental health difficulties never end up in the public eye, yet they affect students’ everyday lives in a profound way” (Iaraovici 6). Not only are records showing increasing numbers but there are always the ones that never get reported or diagnosed. Many students out there are dealing with an immense amount of emotional stress and most likely dealing with it all on their own. Their everyday lives are so much harder than it should be during their college years and nothing is being done to help them. In all, college puts many mental constraints on students, which instead of enjoying the experience of gaining knowledge and maturing, they are overloaded and lead to mental illnesses that create a stressful quality of life.

Each mental disorder has its own forms of symptoms, causes, and treatments that affect each individual differently. Anxiety is a common disorder among college aged students and the number of students developing symptoms is dramatically increasing each year (Bristow). There are many causes that go into a person feeling any level of anxiety. Anything from “hometown, exposure, reason for enrollment, study habits” all lead into anxious emotions and behaviors but no matter the reason they all feed into negative effects on academic performance, self-efficacy, personality, and learning outcomes (Bristow). One individual may have a hard time being away from their home which is why they started developing anxious behaviors while another may not have realized that their study habits need to change in order to pass their class and that is why they start over thinking and acting irrationally. It is a hard disorder to tackle because of all the differing factors. Students also all have different tolerance levels or past experiences that allow them to feel and behave differently with this disorder.

 Another big conscience is how anxiety effects memory, there is so much tension, worry, and irrelevant thinking, that there begins to be physical effects on memory which is not helpful for a student who may be trying to learn five different subjects a semester to graduate and get that diploma (Bristow). A person may meet a stranger and have no idea that they are suffering with anxiety daily because their mind is what is suffering the most. It is reasonable for a student not to perform well in school when they are dealing with this disorder and it is hard for them to focus and remember things. No matter the level of anxiety it is still hard for college student to function up to their full potential because they are dealing with memory issues due to their anxiety. Anxiety is just one of the many disorders that more and more college students are dealing with every day. 

To continue, another form of mental illness is depression. This is a very serious mental illness that should not be taken lightly. Starting off with symptoms, there are a list of them that range from person to person but most experience “feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness” when dealing with depression (Mayo Clinic Staff). At a college student’s age, which ranges from 18 to early twenties, they should not be feeling hopeless when they are so young. It is a shame that during a primitive time in one’s life they walk around sulking and carrying a heavy weight on their shoulder. This is a time in their life where they should be growing and enjoying new experiences that will be beneficial or make for lifetime memories. Happiness and a sense of fullness should be the majority of what these young adults are feeling during college before taking on those full-time jobs once graduation hits. As students sit through class trying to read their professor’s screen through teared up eyes that are tired and heavy they would not be able to give their full attention to the lesson because of their deep depression. There are many opportunities on a college campus to do things, or explore, or even just hang around with some new friends, but students who suffer with depression will not have the energy due to their mood and sadness to take advantage of what is around them. This is when alcohol, drugs, or even suicidal thoughts may come into play which is a major issue on all college campuses (Mayo Clinic Staff). Doris Iarovici the author of Mental Health Issues at The University mentions a 2011 New York Times headline “Record Levels of Stress Found in College Freshman” as well as bringing up facts such as suicides increasing including in Cornell (6 over a few months 2010), NYU (3 within a 5-week period 2003), and Virginia Tech shooting killing 33 in 2007, as well as, over 24% of college students take medication now compared to 9% in 1994 (Iarovici 3-4).    It is sad that students feel the need to turn to unhealthy habits in order to mask their depression or cope with it. These are extremely dangerous and harmful actions that do not help the situation at all. University staff should make it a priority to take care of their students and give them reasons to feel confident not depressed. 

Homesickness is a type of mental constraint that is often over looked.  While it is not a disorder that can be diagnosed, it has still been a highly intense emotion that has affected people throughout time when it was their time to spend a great amount of time away from home. Susan J. Matt in her book, Homesick: An American History, quotes that “Talking about loneliness in America is deeply stigmatized; we see ourselves as a self-reliant people who do not whine about neediness” (Matt 252). America needs to realize while being independent is courageous it is okay to deal with sad emotions before it gets to the point of counteracting the courageous act. It is such a thing to be somewhere physically but mentally being somewhere else which can affect college students during their time away at school. The first-time students are leaving their childhood friends and the comfort of coming home is part of the college experience. Students no longer have their family dinner every night with mom and/or dad there to help at every day. Like Matt says it is imbedded in American culture to suppress these homesick feelings which is not all that healthy in most cases, however there are healthy ways to cope and transition before a student is negatively affected.  “Fast transportation, cheap long-distance calling, and the rise of cell phones, texting, Skype, and social networking sites have all helped mobile American families stay in touch and maintain close bonds” and it is proven and encouraged that homesick college students take advantage of whatever they need (Matt 256). A great number of college students need a connection to home because of how bad their homesickness gets, so many would relate to Ellen Kim a girl from California who went to school in Texas. There was a certain point where she says “The truth was I didn’t want to be the independent college student” while college is made to transition into independent adult life “The most taxing part of coping with my homesickness was the suppression, the last thing I wanted… was for everyone to think I was some immature cry baby, I was 18 years old and unable to handle a few months on my own” (Matt 257). Many American college students can relate to Kim and her feelings. Homesickness is a mental issue that should be taken care of with seriousness at the college level in order for students to enjoy their experience and maximize their potential to succeed.

Stress is a serious, and the most common source of mental illness. Every university does have counselors and physiatrists but as more and more students are becoming stressed the more the universities will need to meet their students’ needs. A primary research group staff that collects data of universities has seen a drastic increase in the need of health services with in the last decade. The staff makes it a point that the universities will have to alter their budget, staff, and programs to accommodate the needs (Staff of the primary research group). These increasing numbers are alarming and certainly affect a lot of people. There may be a parallel between the more stress cases, the more programs the universities put out which ultimately gets students more aware of the stress which leads to an even more increase is stress cases needed. Programs are certainly beneficial because the word needs to be spread on what stress is and how a student can help their stress needs. It is also comforting knowing there are others who are experiencing the same emotions and feelings especially when entering a new world of college life. The counselors are needed as a way to help students cope in a healthy way and when just talking will not work physiatrists are needed to properly prescribe the right medicine to students that are suffering. Another research topic the staff focused on was the money and budget universities put into such health needs. Tuition is paid for by students each semester and it is no secret that the costs are high and only increasing. The research staff found that some universities are not managing their budget wisely. They found that it is most helpful when there is a certain and parallel ratio of staff to students. The students health should be one of the top priorities especially when they are paying so much to attend so it is extremely unjust when these actions are not followed (staff of primary research group). This is extremely alarming. Students are suffering and their university should be able to provide the correct amount of resources to help. If the correct staffing and budgeting is not met, students will continue to become stressed, numbers will increase, and all these students suffering from the pull of this mental constraint will not be able to perform properly in their studies. The goal of the universities should be to provide their students with as much resources to succeed as possible.

Values can greatly affect emotions and behaviors. It is obvious that if one values something, they will act on it and it will guide them through their life. A research study states that in the U.S.  “college life is often studied in terms of such concepts as academic achievement, academic success, and retention” or “that the mission of college education in the U.S. should be helping students learn and achieve, thus students should engage in achieving various academic skills, such as effective writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills [while] other scholars claimed that college life should lead students to intellectual, cognitive, and interpersonal development” (Sunwoo). While these values and missions are all efficient when promoting education, it is in the facts of students’ health and mental illness that are suffering. Health and sanity are important values that the U.S. are not taking under higher consideration of the college students who will soon need to be well enough to work and provide for the country. “In Korea, one of the missions of a college education focuses a lot on character education (character development)(i.e., developing a harmonious character with wisdom, virtue, and physical health) that can contribute to self-cultivation and societal prosperity. College students in Korea are frequently studied in terms of their beliefs and attitudes about social and cultural expectations, and how they can contribute” (Sunwoo). In comparison, Korea’s education system focus more on student’s self and their beliefs instead of forcing pressure on all academics. There needs to be more of a balance in the values of college student’s education in the U.S. between academics and well-being in order for the students to be truly successful.

 Some may look at things from a different point of view. College is a time to prepare for the “real” world and learn what is needed to know to be able to survive alone. This preparation may cause for some stressful times and a lot of hard work to get to a point where one is ready. Some may believe that college is “positioned to assist students in finding their true destinations beyond us—the next degree, the future profession or life, the power to discover and enlarge their own stories” (Shugart). College needs to be hard in order to be prepared for what life throws at students in their career or other aspects. Some careers require a lot of thought, time, and energy and the only way to be prepared for it is to learn how to handle it in college. In reality, college is only four years of preparation for the rest of a life so it needs to be packed with useful lessons and challenges. The more challenging the better prepared a student will be. They will learn how hard some situations can get and how much effort is needed to get things done. Students will have to ride up to the challenge and it is during this process that they learn to grow.  They will need to rise to “a level where they can be reasonably expected to perform in college-level courses” which are rigorous (Shugart). College courses only have a short time to teach the skills needed for their students to be employed and successful in the work field. In opposition, it is not healthy for students in this growing process to have such a constraint that pushes them into a mental illness. This is where a line should be drawn. It is accurate to be able to prepare students for the road ahead to be able to handle their adult world and be successful but it becomes counter active when students are pushed to the max. From the mental illnesses talked about it is proven that students begin to decline in progression when they are feeling overwhelmed and start to develop any type of disorder. Overall, universities should be able to prepare college students for success without causing any mental illness constraints. 

To conclude, mental concerns are heavily integrated in the lives of college students which is taking away from their success and leading them to a stressful quality of life. To summarize, anxiety creeps into daily lives while depression starts to shut someone down. Homesickness is heartbreaking while stress eats away at all energy needed to function. There are more mental concerns that many students suffer with and this could be due to the values. Korea and other countries bring attention to different values education systems hold which should be used to help promote a healthy life balance. While some may argue that college does need to be challenging to prepare for careers and life ahead, students are becoming so overwhelmed that they are not able to function at their full potential. America needs strong and sane people to make this country right, not stressed people who are over worked; leading to a downfall. Coming from a well-known author and researcher of the college experience less stress equal more success (Leibow).  College students will succeed when the education system makes a change!
