Students Exhibiting Greater Number of Psychological Disorders
More students are coming to college with preexisting conditions and these students are more likely to seek out counseling services than has been the case in the past. College mental health workers have noted an increase in requested services in the past decade. The lead author of this study, John Guthman, PhD, is the director of student counseling services at Hofstra University. This study was presented at the American Psychological Association’s 118th annual convention. The authors examined 3,256 records of undergraduate and graduate students who accessed counseling services at a mid-sized private university between 1997 and 2009.
The researchers found that not only are more students seeking out counseling services, but students are displaying more severe psychological disorders. Although the data do not reflect the typical college student, they do imply that more students with severe psychological disorders are coming to college. Additional resources, support, and education provided to these students in childhood may be making it possible for them to attend college more so than has been seen in the past. Due to more of these students having preexisting conditions, they may be more willing to seek out counseling services once they arrive to campus.
Preexisting Conditions Contributing Factor
The authors found that depression and anxiety among students seeking counseling actually remained mild and at a constant rate in the past decade. However, there has been a modest increase in the percentage of students with moderate to severe depression and anxiety. Guthman suggested this increase could be due to students coming to college with preexisting conditions and because more students are socially isolated and on psychiatric medication. Students coming to counseling and on medication increased 10 percent from 1998 to 2009. Counseling services need to provide more resources to these students displaying more severe psychological disorders.
A more optimistic finding was noted by authors in that fewer students reported thoughts of suicide in 2009 compared to 1998. The reduction of suicidal ideation could be a result of successful suicide prevention efforts on college campuses.