The Journal report includes just one sentence addressing causes: “Psychologists have many theories to explain the rise in mental-health diagnoses among college-age students, from social-media habits to less stigma around mental illness.”
So what’s really going on?
One online report, “The top mental health challenges facing students,” cites depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction and suicide as the top issues, and the American Psychological Association, in its “Campus Mental Health” report, bemoans rising levels of “sexual assault and self-injury” and the need to “develop suicide prevention programs.” But there’s not much exploration of causes.
Moreover, even when causes are addressed, the giant elephant in the room is almost always ignored.
Thus, one psychiatrist, writing an op-ed headlined “1 in 5 college students have anxiety or depression. Here’s why,” cites the usual suspects – “excessive social media use,” “mobile phone addiction,” “cyberbullying,” the “rising cost of college” (leading to “dread of debt”) and other stressors. To his credit, he also revealingly cites the “skyrocket[ing] … number of requests I receive from high school and college students and their parents for stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall” to help junior perform better on “major exams, such as finals, the MCAT or the LSAT”
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