Everyone should take mental health seriously
We should do more to support students with disorders, stress
ALYSSA STANFIELD | EVERGREEN PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
As a community, we have to prioritize the mental health of our peers. Take time for yourself to relax when you are feeling burnt out and be kind to one another.
December 10, 2018
Mental health on college campuses is sometimes overlooked, so we need to bring more awareness to this topic to reassure all students that WSU cares about their mental state.
Students often deal with the pressure of adult issues while trying to stay on top of school and other organizations or communities they are active in.
When talking to those outside of the WSU community about issues students go through, we often either get brushed aside or confirmation that everything is going to be OK, but sometimes we need a little more than that.
“[We should] help the person in need of guidance to understand that they can live a more flexible life than they thought [was expected of them],” said Dan Neighbors, faculty psychology resident and outreach coordinator for Cougar Health Services.
Neighbors works directly with clients to discuss their personal issues and resources for treatment and support.
During a student’s time in college, he said, it is chaotic to deal with environmental change, making new friends and all the other things that come with being a college student.
Mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse are what we see more on college campuses and it can worsen over time if not treated.
College students have one of the greatest levels of stress. It is proven that college is the most stressful time of life due to all the issues students have to take on day-by-day while learning how to “adult” at the same time.
As students, we don’t realize how much is on our plate until we lay it out on a planner or just suddenly start to realize when completing assignment after assignment.
Feeling burnt out and unmotivated is common once we start to do this daily, but don’t forget to make time for yourself. Self-care and other forms of relaxation can really ease some of the stress.
We need to remind our students about healthier ways of life. There is nothing wrong with taking “me time” to recollect yourself, so you can be prepared to tackle all the other things you have going on in your daily life.
Most people in college or have been to college for some reason like to brag about how much sleep they didn’t get or the bad habits they have produced over time.
As the newest generation of college students, we should be held accountable to promote better habits like regular eating schedules, better sleeping habits and less binge drinking. We have to make changes to promote better lifestyle habits and try harder to implement them in our daily lives.
We all can say we need help, but things won’t change unless we allow ourselves to change them. For example, reassurance from family members and close loved ones is often what students want but never ask for.
Sometimes the pressure from family is what holds us back from doing what we are really passionate about in life, but mental health disorders are not something that we choose. They develop and need to be treated over time.
As students, always remember to be kind and caring to those around you. You never know what they could be going through.
Diana • Dec 18, 2018 at 11:32 pm
While I agree that mental health should be a top priority for the university and it’s students as well as faculty & staff (myself being a current WSU staff member and former alumni from 2011) – I would have to disagree on a number of these points. First of all, WSU has an excellent counseling center for students to utilize FOR FREE whenever they need it. The same cannot be said for faculty & staff, however. Although the university has an “employee assistance program,” it’s basically a hotline you call to find mental health resources in your area, which there are none in Pullman or Moscow, ID. In other words, the problem is not WSU, but the Palouse community in general that needs to improve its mental health facilities. For example, the closest marriage counselor in the area is in Spokane – and considering that marriage is listed as #7 of the most stressful life events that a person endures (source: https://i2.wp.com/stress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Holmes-Rahe-Stress-Inventory.jpg) – it’s sad that the Palouse has no mental health facilities to aid adults in these stressful situations. I understand that this is a student led newspaper, but spewing statements about “the greatest stress levels” in a person’s life, that are “proven,” without providing any evidence to back up these claims is a little absurd, in my honest opinion. I would urge to author to please fact check yourself before you publish articles like this. Mental health is no joke, and I believe that WSU students have the best resources on the Palouse available to them. The people who live and work in Pullman/Moscow, who aren’t students, have a lot more stressful circumstances to deal with and little to no resources available. So, instead of publishing something that tries to exaggerate the stress that students experience, I think a more important article would better articulate the many resources that are available to students. By that, I don’t only mean traditional students, who are fresh out of college with little to no responsibilities, outside of being a student. But non-traditional students, who are working multiple jobs while going to school (which is what I did as a WSU undergrad getting my degree in engineering) or the student who has children to provide for, or who is living in a foreign country and learning a new language. I’m sorry, but there are much more stressful things in life than just going to school, and I think this article did a horrible job at examining the resources available to students who may be experiencing more stress than what traditional students experience.