Students no strangers to stress

By AMBER SCHULTZ

Exams, coursework, and lifestyle changes: students are no strangers to stress, with an expert now estimating that up to a third of all university students are affected by it.

Dr Tim Sharp, positive psychologist and Chief Happiness Officer at the Happiness Institute, said while stress wasn’t a formal diagnosis, it was often present in people with anxiety and depression.

“If we walked on any uni campus, 30-40 per cent of students would be experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression,” he said.

While one in four Australians experience some form of mental illness throughout their lifetime, Dr Sharp said if stress was formally diagnosed, that number could go up to one in three.

“People are walking around alone thinking what's wrong with me,” he said.

“But stress is a normal response to many situations.”

Dr Sharp added that university students were often subject to lifestyle changes which contributed to stress.

“University students – particularly first year students – go through numerous massive structural, psychological, and social changes,” he said.

April is Stress Awareness Month, an annual public awareness campaign which has been held every year since 1992. The event aims to increase public awareness about the causes and cures for stress.

“Stigma is the biggest issue surrounding mental illness,” Dr Sharp said.

GETTING HELP
• If you or someone you know is experiencing mental illness, Monash University offers student and staff counselling services. Book online here or call the 24/7 hour service on 1300 788 336.
• For immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

“We can have the best services in the world, but can’t help if people don’t come.”

In 2016 mental health foundation Headspace and the National Union of Students (NUS) conducted the first ever national tertiary wellbeing survey, collecting data from thousands of students across Australia.

The study found 83 per cent of university students said feeling stressed had affected their study over the past 12 months.

Headspace CEO Jason Trethowan said the results were alarming, but not surprising.

“University students might have moved out of home for the first time, they might have greater responsibilities financially, and domestically … they may have less parental contact leaving them vulnerable and changes in their mental health going unnoticed,” he wrote in a statement.

“They are an at-risk group with no clear check-in point for mental health difficulties.”

National Union of Students (NUS) national president Mark Pace said universities needed to do more to help students suffering from stress and mental illness.

“A lot of free university counselling services can be overflowed with students,” he said.

Mr Pace said he had spoken to students from Monash University and La Trobe University, who each had to wait between four and seven weeks for access to counselling services.

“If your mental health is terrible, and you have to wait two months for services, then it’s not sufficient,” he said, adding that both universities and federal governments needed to do more.

“If the government is going to expand higher education [through uncapped enrollment], then they need to expand counselling services.”