We need to address stress levels at colleges. Let’s start with Ohio State

Students at universities across the country are constantly being overloaded with exams, papers, work, resume builders and more, all in order to come out on top of the rest and somehow find their place in this society.

With all of this comes endless nights of stress and pressure coming from everywhere around them (professors, family, peers) which ultimately leads to complete breakdowns. Headlines have been popping up more and more frequently stating yet another suicide of a college student. The question is: how do we make this stop?

It is clear the numbers are rising in suicide rates and depression rates for college students, and it seems to rise each year. With every year passing, universities are making a college education no longer optional, but necessary to make it in society. So, if we need to go to college in order to live, why is it something which brings us to tears after two all-nighters in a row?

The importance of mental health within universities is only stressed when your personal university is affected by a loss from suicide. For us at Ohio State, we lost one of our own student athletes just last year, yet we are still pushing the importance of mental health under the rug. Why do we work ourselves to the point of physical and mental exhaustion to realize we now need help?

(USA Today)

At Ohio State, we hold our education to the highest of standards both for professors and students, but I hear from people all the time how even their peers are making them feel inferior based on majors and GPAs.

We are all here for the same reason: to get a degree, so why do we need to make our friends and classmates feel like their major isn’t as important as ours or their C- paper is complete trash? All this is doing is stirring up and starting those negative feelings we all go through at least once in our college careers.

One easy step we can take to stop this is to make sure we are not culprits of this crime ourselves. Make sure when a friend is complaining to you about how they bombed their midterm, you don’t follow it by, “well did you study” or “I did really awesome.”

Sympathy is important in changing how we see mental health. Never let anyone feel like they cannot come to you with an issue, because having those lines you know you can go to in a time of stress helps so much more than you know.

(CDC College)

Yes, mental health and mental illness are different things, but they go hand in hand. I don’t think students realize how many people suffer from minor forms of depression at first, which can only spiral into a deeper depression once poked. It should not be seen as weakness to be depressed or need help, but it should rather be encouraged.

First of all: you are not alone. I can guarantee myself, even in your darkest times, someone understands what you’re going through. If you are ever questioning whether or not you should talk to someone about how you are feeling: DO IT. It can’t hurt to at least try; even the effort and acknowledgment of the extent of the issue helps in itself.

Lastly, I can not stress any more, but if you need a day off from life, or just a break for a minute, never feel like what you have going on is too much and you can’t take a break. I go to school full-time and work full-time, along with many other college students nowadays, and the day I told myself it’s okay to go have fun for once was the day I saw something in myself change.

I can only hope this resonates and helps someone else realize a break should not be seen as something which could just add more stress. And, when you’re really feeling defeated, remember, even though someone else might be better than you at this particular thing, you are so much better at something else and this time in our lives is meant to find out what it may be.

So, Ohio State, make your mental health just as important as your physical health and always be a support system for someone else. We truly are all in this together and if we all realized we aren’t necessarily competing against each other, we are all going to get a lot further both academically and mentally.

If you are ever feeling like it might just be too much, do not ever be scared to call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1(800) 273-8255 or the Columbus Suicide Prevention Services at (614) 221-5445. Remember: these are not only for people who are to the point of contemplating suicide, but also for anyone who just needs someone to tell them it’s going to be okay.

Also click here for information about the student mental health services. Every student enrolled at Ohio State gets 10 completely free sessions of mental health counseling every academic year, use them.