In the past two decades, college counseling centers have seen an alarming increase in the number of students seeking help for serious mental health problems. The number of counseling center clients with severe psychological problems has increased 28% since 2000 alone. While one in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have a diagnosable mental illness, many don’t begin to experience the onset of these symptoms until they are leaving college and the supports that it provides.
We often hear about how adults are impacted by depression, but there is a growing concern about the high number of youth reporting signs and symptoms. According to data from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, nearly a third of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks in a row and 17% seriously considered suicide. It’s important to know the warnings signs, especially those that that are more common for teenagers to experience.
In the United States, 30 million people will be impacted by an eating disorder. Research tells us that nearly 50% of these individuals are also abusing drugs or alcohol. Eating disorders and substance abuse disorders are closely linked, in fact, individuals with eating disorders experience five times greater a risk for developing one than the general population. While evidence-based treatments have been developed and used to treat individuals for eating disorders and substance abuse separately, finding effective treatment that addresses both is critical.
Your body is feeling a bit foreign to you at the moment. There are a number of rules that you’re trying to follow and keep straight about what you should and shouldn’t be eating. A scale has become a crucial tool which your doctor uses to determine whether you had a good or bad month. Your weight is often an (unwelcome) topic of conversation–even with strangers. We’re not talking about an eating disorder–we’re actually talking about being pregnant, but it’s easy to see why pregnancy can be triggering for some women who have lived with an eating disorder or issues with their body image.
By the time she had entered high school, Elizabeth had already been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. By her sophomore year she had been hospitalized, completed a treatment program and was seeing a therapist and taking medication. “Though the transition was difficult at best, high school was a really wonderful experience for me, something I attribute largely to the fact that I had an incredible support system,” Elizabeth recollects. “My parents were amazing – they embraced family therapy, helped foster my coping skills, and disassociated my worth from my appearance. I also saw a therapist, psychiatrist, and nutritionist regularly.”
In a number of studies, friendship and social support have been linked to better physical health outcomes, like lower rates of heart disease. One such study (published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine in 2007) revealed that young men and women who discussed difficult parts of their lives had a lower pulse and blood pressure when a supportive friend accompanied them. Friendship is an important factor in our physical health, but what affects does it have on our mental health?
Screening for Mental Health, Inc.
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