Mental health awareness

STATISTICS

PG: 1,260
UG: 8,415
2007–08
PG: 3,925
UG: 25,450
2013–14
PG: 8,040
UG: 49,265
2016–17
PG: 2,185
UG: 14,325
2010–11
The 2.3 million students studying at UK universities are an important mental health population, with distinctive characteristics and vulnerabilities. There is limited direct evidence on student mental health; the most reliable data is provided by proxy measures of disclosure and demand for services. The number of students disclosing a mental health condition to their higher education institution is increasing. Minding Our Future: Starting a Conversation about the support of student mental health. Universities UK, 2018.

STUDENT POPULATION

Age: A large proportion of students are under 25 and around three-quarters of adults with a mental illness have their first episode before turning 25. The incidences of mood, anxiety, psychotic, personality, eating, and substance use disorders peak in adolescence and early adulthood: 50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.
Stress: Becoming a student can be a stressful experience. Although stress isn't a mental health problem, it can lead to mental health problems like depression and anxiety.
Lack of support: Students may have left home for the first time, or just don't have enough time to see their friends and family. The loss of a support network can make them vulnerable to developing a mental health problem. Other factors involved in the increased prevalence of mental health illness within the student population:

• Isolation
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Transient lifestyle
• Lack of coping strategies
• Change
• Maturational Conflict
• Financial pressures
• High expectations – parents and competition for jobs
• Poor housing
• Academic expectations and deadlines
• Coping with life events
• First in the family to go to University