When you’re a young adult, it feels like nothing can stop you. Your body is in its peak physical condition and your emotions haven’t yet been run down by the gamut of life. However, with so much naturally going for them, it can be easy for college-age students to overlook one essential part of a healthy life: their mental health.
Many college students face major mental concerns like depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders, and even suicide. If you or a loved one is in college, it’s important that you take time to manage your mental health. This can help address current concerns and prevent future ailments from causing any issues.
Here are a few considerations when it comes to managing your mental health while on campus.
Consider How You Feel
It all starts with self-awareness. If, for instance, you can’t recognize the difference between sadness and depression, your ignorance will likely mean you never do something to address the issue.
Even if you do realize that you’re feeling depressed, it can take time to diagnose what it is that’s causing the depression. It may be something circumstantial, like seasonal affective disorder, or it could be something physical, like hypothyroidism. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself questions as you sort through your feelings and consider what kind of state your mind is in.
Communicate With the Professionals
If you’ve identified that your mental health is suffering, it’s best to go to a professional to confirm any hunches regarding a diagnosis. While mental health is still a developing medical field, healthcare professionals are increasingly better trained to both identify and treat mental health concerns on a regular basis.
A school nurse, for instance, will likely be trained to understand the signs of depression, and may even have special training, such as the Training in the Assessment of Depression (TRIAD) program. The point is, once you’ve confirmed that you are, indeed, struggling with a mental ailment, it’s important to discuss the matter with someone who can help direct your efforts to address the situation.
Connect With Others
There are several other things to consider apart from self and professional diagnoses. If you find yourself struggling with anxiety, an eating disorder, or even suicidal thoughts, one of the best ways to cope is by building up a support system around you.
Whether you’re contacting your parents back home, spending time with fellow students, or having a one-on-one conversation with an old friend, strive to keep meaningful channels of communication open.
The keyword here is meaningful. Attending a concert on campus and then slipping off mid-way through the show to go sulk alone in your dorm doesn’t count as a meaningful connection with others.
If you’re struggling to find ways to connect, consider your own interests, hobbies, and preferred forms of entertainment, and then look for others who share them. For instance, if you’re a movie junkie, invite other fans of cinema to a movie night in your dorm or gather a group to go to a local theater. If you like bubbly social gatherings, look for friends who want to go out dancing with you. If you’re a deep, introspective thinker, ask someone you care about to go out for a cup of coffee and a heart-to-heart conversation.
The specific activity shouldn’t matter. What should matter is what you’re trying to accomplish by engaging in it. If you treat your social life purely as a distraction, you’ll end up struggling quietly on your own behind closed doors. However, if you utilize your social connections as a chance to talk through your struggles in a safe, inviting environment, it can be a tremendous boon, mentally speaking.
Just remember to treat your support system with respect. They don’t owe you anything. Be thankful and honest as you share with them, and always be ready to reciprocate by offering a helping hand and a listening ear.
Control What You Can
Finally, while trying to control everything that affects your mental state is a fool’s errand, that doesn’t mean you can’t take some time to try to control certain things.
For instance, finances are a classic stressor for college students. Things like tuition, textbooks, and living expenses can add up quickly, and simply piling everything onto a loan can feel overwhelming. If you find that financial stress is feeding into your mental struggles, look for ways to remedy the situation, such as:
- Setting up a budget: This allows you to list out all of your income and expenses.
- Eating out less: Cooking your own food can be adventurous, delicious, and cheap!
- Avoiding having too many subscriptions: Having five streaming services at once adds up quickly.
- Use a bike or rideshare app: These can eliminate the need for a car.
Along with finances, you can easily control another obvious stressor: your smartphone. Sixty percent of college students claim they’re addicted to their smartphones. Take the time to delete distracting apps, turn off stressful news stories, and even unplug from your phone entirely from time to time.
Managing Mental Health
It’s completely possible to get through college without losing your mind. However, you can only do so if you’re open to maintaining your mental health as you go along. Remember, this starts with being open to self-diagnosis and talking to a professional.
From there, you can take additional steps, such as building a social support system that you can lean on for help or controlling things like your finances and smartphone use in order to decrease your overall stress. If you take the reigns and proactively manage your mental health, you’ll be better able to remain positively focused and mentally sound during your time on campus.
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