The latest annual Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed 100,000-plus college students from 200 universities across the U.S. is showing an encouraging trend. There are decreases in symptoms of anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, and increases in receiving mental health care and support.
In general, the latest report from the Healthy Minds Network found that college students seem to be flourishing more but mental illness and related issues for this age group remain a pressing concern.
According to Justin Heinze of the University of Michigan: “Mental health problems continue to be highly prevalent in college student populations, but the reports from students for this year’s study are promising”.
The study data was gathered through confidential online surveys taken by undergraduate and graduate students randomly selected by each school’s administrations, boiled down the students’ responses on: depressive symptoms, anxiety, eating disorders, diagnoses of mental illness, suicidal thoughts and non-suicidal self-injury, history of mental illness, use of therapy or counselling, and stigma.
Some 104,000 students’ responses were used for the 2023-24 study. The emailed, web-based surveys are timed to avoid the first two weeks of the term, the final week of the term and holidays. This is the 15th year of the study and report, which is produced by the Healthy Minds Network. More than 850,000 students at 600-plus colleges and universities have participated.
Students’ responses showed a decrease in severe depressive symptoms from 23 percent in 2022 and 20 percent in 2023 to 19 percent in 2024. Furthermore, moderate depressive symptoms decreased from 44 percent in 2022 and 42 percent in 2023 to 38 percent in 2024.
Non-suicidal self-injury dropped to 13 percent in 2024, 2 percent less than 2022. It also stands that among students with depressive or anxiety symptoms, more students (61 percent) are using mental health therapy or counselling. In 2022, the number was 60 percent and in 2023 the number dropped to 59 percent.
The improvements might be related to students bouncing back from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The detailed picture of mental health and related issues provided by the Healthy Minds Study is typically used by schools to identify needs and priorities, benchmark against peer institutions, evaluate programs and policies, plan for services and programs, and advocate for resources.
