Anxious, Depressed, and Suicidal: Crisis Narratives in University Student Mental Health and the Need for a Balanced Approach to Student Wellness

Abstract

There is growing global awareness of the poor mental health of university students, as well as the need to improve students’ access to services and expand the range of available evidence-based interventions. However, a crisis narrative is emerging, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, that runs the risk of positioning all students as potential patients in need of formal psychiatric interventions. Our aim in this commentary is to critically present the evidence that supports increased attention to student mental health, while also raising a concern that the crisis narrative may itself have unintended harmful consequences. We highlight some of the potential dangers of overtly medicalizing and thus pathologizing students’ experiences of everyday distress, inadequacies of formal diagnostic categories, limitations of focusing narrowly on psychotherapeutic and psychiatric interventions, and the short-sightedness of downplaying key social determinants of students’ distress. We argue for an integrative and balanced public health approach that draws on the rigor of psychiatric epidemiology and the advances that have been made to identify evidence-based interventions for students, while simultaneously being mindful of the shortcomings and potential dangers of working narrowly within the paradigm of diagnostic labels and psychotherapeutic interventions.

Ansiedad y depresión: el caso de profesores y estudiantes universitarios en el aprendizaje virtual durante la pandemia en El Salvador

“…El análisis inferencial demuestra que la condición de estudiante y profesor universitario con ciertas particularidades de dependencia de las respectivas casas de estudios superiores, puede ser considerado un factor que podría emplazar el desarrollo de condiciones de ansiedad y depresión. Este resultado se vincula con hallazgos previos (Bantjes et al, 2023). En este sentido, se debe incluir una serie de factores intervinientes que podrían ser analizados y evaluados según las características de cada territorio, como el género, pertenencia a minorías sexuales, dedicarse exclusivamente a actividades académicas y tomar medicamentos recetados (Martínez-Líbano et al, 2023).…”

Komunikasi Kesehatan Mental Pada Mahasiswa Dan Peran Masyarakat Menanggapi Isu Kesehatan Mental

“…Jurnal Cahaya Mandalika (JCM) | 1902 berpotensi mengkategorikan mahasiswa sebagai pasien berpotensi yang memutuhkan perawatan mental professional (Bantjes et al, 2023). Masyarakat memiliki peran yang penting dalam perkembangan narasi dan informasi.…”

Phenomenology of Student Wellbeing in Higher Education: Challenges and Strategies

“…Wellbeing has been an attention of focus in higher education (Douwes, Metselaar, Pijnenborg, & Boonstra., 2023; Krägeloh, C.U., Dryer, R., Moir, F., Billington, R., & Hill, 2018; Chaudhry, 2024) because of its crucial impacts on students' emotional and academic engagement. A large body of research indicates that students with low level of wellbeing suffer from numerous adverse psychological effects such as decline in satisfaction with personal and school life, symptoms of low self-confidence (National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2022); depression (Gilman & Huebner, 2006); hopelessness (Majumdar & Ray, 2010); and nonsuicidal self-injury and/ or suicidal ideation (Bantjes et al, 2023). Furthermore, low level of wellbeing indicates itself in erosion on academic engagement in various ways including lack of concentration (National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2022); impaired capacity to keep up with academic workload, poor educational outcomes (Goretzki & Zysk, 2017); student burnout and so on (Palos et al, 2019).…”