Boosting your Mental Health
Stress in College Students
College students have reported to have high levels of stress causing anxiety and depression. There are many factors that can cause this stress such as:
-
transitioning from high school to college,
-
losing friends,
-
expectations,
-
overload and more.
What students need are tools that will support them on their new journey and resources that they can utilize when needed.
What To Do About It
In a meta-analysis study different types of interventions for stress were categorized and
showed the effects of each.
There are three interventions:
-
Arts based,
-
psycho-educational based,
-
and cognitive/behavioral based.
Art intervention concluded of music making and poetry.
Cognitive/behavioral intervention had mindfulness-based stress reduction, relaxation training,
meditation and more.
College students can do these things as long as they would like to help
manage the stress, anxiety and depression.
These techniques are tools with little to no cost,
that students can use.
Universities should implement these types of activities throughout the semester.
Resources
Regehr, C., Glancy, D., & Pitts, A. (2013). Interventions to reduce stress in university students: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of affective disorders, 148(1), 1-11.
​
Kassymova, K., Kosherbayeva, N., Sangilbayev, S., & Schachl, H. (2018, September). Stress management techniques for students. In International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Personality Formation in Modern Society (ICTPPFMS 2018). Atlantis Press.