Mental Health Issues Among Students: Effects of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression One Explanation for Students living in these Vulnerable Conditions in Life
Stress, anxiety, and depression are commonly covered issues because they are more often observed during the academic life of students. Students often face tension arising from academics, social life, and personal issues which are complex when blended together. Such issues have great impacts on their wellbeing and performance. This article looks at the stressors, the effects of anxiety and depression to students and how it can be solved practically.
Such students are always under the shackles of mental health problems for a number of reasons. It may vary from one person to another but the following are general causes:
- Academic Pressure: A big number of students struggle to overcome the pressure they would put on themselves to succeed academically, passive stress. Stress is impossible to avoid and is often derived from achieving particular scores, deadlines and taking tests. As a result, heightened feelings of stress lead to anxiety which in turn results in feelings of worthlessness.
- Social Challenges: Dealing with other students and making friends, which can sometimes come coupled with deadlines, may create stress anticipating the results. On some occasions, the need to fit in, rejection phobia and weak social skills have led some individuals to suffer from mixed emotions and anxiety.
- Financial Concerns: Visioning the payment of tuition fees, the burden of student loans, and accommodation costs is enough to stress many students. Anxiety may pop up in circumstances when a student is not sure how to deal with their financial responsibilities.
- Transitions and Changes: Transitioning from one life stage to another may also bring about quite a number of occasions where anxiety may feature and these events include: leaving your parents’ house for the first time, commencing your first college or university and even settling in a new place. Such transitions can sometimes test a student’s emotional strength and their ability to cope.
- Lack of Support: Loss of family, friends or academic staff can lead one to depression and grave loneliness. Whenever a student is in the conviction that he has poor support, it is impossible for that student to manage stress and anxiety.
Effects of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression on Students
Stress has the potential to exert effects that are more than just limited to the psychological sphere and can interfere with the emotional, physical, and sociocultural components. The side effects of the mental health problems mentioned above include:
- Failing Grades: Long term stress and anxiety take a toll on people’s ability to remember, to focus and even to feel motivated. As a result, students are likely to perform poorly in their academics.
This could worsen the situation, as students may have trouble concentrating on their studies, doing homework or achieving good results in tests.
- Chronic Pain: Affected by prolonged stress one can have headache, weakness, stomach problems and a lowered immune system. Such bodily presentations can hinder one’s academic performance and also the state of physiological wellness.
- Taking a step back: Stress along with mental health issues in a child can lead to the child losing touch with personal activities, friends and family. Such emotional distancing nurtures feelings of depression and solitude, which makes the situation if anything, worse.
- Hampered mental state: Prolonged stress, anxiety and depression can trigger further anxiety disorders or make a person feel depressed or even worse, suicidal. The impact is believed to last long and make it difficult for children to study and live a normal life.
Techniques To Cope with Stress, Anxiety, And Depression
Luckily, there exist a few tactics which students can take into consideration to assist them with developing stronger mental health. By adopting appropriate mechanisms when healthy coping strategies fail and reaching out for help, the students are able to combat the effects of stress and anxiety.
- Establish Appropriate Coping Mechanisms: It becomes imperative for students to start getting involved in activities which assist them in becoming calm and bringing the mental stress down. Doing hobbies, playing sports, or indulging in something creative is a good way of relieving stress and getting away from academics. Engaging in physical activities such as aerobics or practicing yoga can enhance your mood as well as bring clarity in the mind.
- Incorporate Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques: Activities like meditation and deep breathing or stretching and focusing i.e. mindfulness, would be quite effective for the students in situations where they want to bring down anxiety and stress. These self-help measures help relax before concentrating on negative thoughts and actions. Mindfulness helps the students to concentrate on their present moves rather than dread over the incidents that took place the day before or things which are likely to happen in the future.
- Create a Support Network: It is had been noted that having a sound support system helps in protecting one’s mental health. Students should strive to reach out to friends, family, or any other trusted individuals who can assist in bettering their moods. Speaking about one’s experiences with mental health issues in particular creates a safe environment for those struggling to seek assistance without feeling ostracized.
- Time Organization Abilities: To be able to cope with the demands of schoolwork and as a result reduce stress factors, good time management skills are a critical tool to have. Students are likely to feel that they are able to comprehend the requirements of school as they plan their activities, divide them, and set appropriate expectations. Time management can make sure that relaxation and self-care time is also factored in order to reduce chances of exhaustion.
- Get Therapy: For stress, anxiety, or depression problems that pose severe challenges to the students, opting for professional assistance is critical. This can be through counselors, therapists, or mental health professionals who will assist them in dealing with stress and help them manage their feelings. There are many schools that have counselors and students must be advised to make good use of that facility.
Conclusion
It cannot be dismissed that stress, anxieties, and depressive episodes among students are all factors that exist, but they can be managed. One such approach is to actively work towards overcoming such mental health issues by gaining an understanding and awareness of the different ways in which they can be dealt with, without taking a toll on someone’s well-being. Resiliency is greatly improved through healthy coping mechanisms, requesting help, or performing mindfulness meditation, which also stops mental health issues from harming one’s academic and personal endeavors. Students should nurture their mental health with the help of awareness ideologies directed towards these tough challenges in order to succeed in their studies.
To conclude, the stress that comes with college or life itself is one of the largest contributors to deteriorating mental health and should be observed early on by students to self-improve, as their well-being as a whole is what matters, not just one aspect of it.
