Welcome Back: Stress leaves students vulnerable to depression during college, campus resources available

Psychologist Toni Macpherson said there is a strong connection between depression and failure to adapt to college. According to her, students who don’t find a niche often become stressed. This leads to anxiety, which in turn leads to depression.

“You’ve gone from life at home, where things are smooth, and now you land in a place where you don’t have a support system, where you’re in charge of yourself,” Macpherson said, referring to college students.

College, with its lack of structure and its combination of stressors, is fertile ground for the onset of depression and other disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. These disorders often first appear in individuals between the ages of 17 and 19. While the consequences of these disorders can be severe, Pitt offers services for students suffering from them.

According to statistics cited by the National Institute of Mental Health, a 2011 assessment by the American College Health Association found that about 30 percent of college students reported feeling “so depressed that it was difficult to function” at some time in the year before the assessment.

According to Macpherson, who is the executive director of the Pittsburgh nonprofit Leading Education and Awareness for Depression, about 1,200 college students commit suicide each year. The organization aims to remove the stigma surrounding depression and to connect sufferers to treatment resources. 

Tevya Zukor, the director of the Counseling Center at Pitt, echoes this sentiment and also points to students’ separation from family and friends — their old support network — as a factor that furthers the difficulty of handling these new challenges.

“The college experience,” said Zukor, “while new and exciting, also requires connecting with new people, usually living with a roommate for the first time, and a high level of academic challenge.”

Adding to the problem, many people just don’t understand the disorder. 

“Depression is a real and serious mental health condition,” said Zukor. “It is also different from occasional periods of feeling down.”

Unlike the passing feelings of sadness that often accompany certain life events such as the death of a loved one, depression is a lingering sense of sadness, often paired with feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy. 

Zukor listed some of the additional warning signs as loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities, increased social isolation, increased irritability and lethargy or lack of energy.

According to Macpherson, false beliefs about depression are perhaps even more harmful than lack of knowledge about the disorder. Some still believe depression to be a character flaw or sign of weakness.

“In the 1960s, no one ever said the word ‘cancer,’” she said. “Similarly, today, depression is still a hushed topic. This stigma is particularly harmful because failure to treat depression can have lifelong consequences.”

She went on to say that between the ages 18 and 25, people should establish independence from their families and develop careers.

“The risks of failing to achieve adulthood … are greater for that student who doesn’t make it in the first semester,” Macpherson said.

While the consequences of depression can be serious, there are resources available to Pitt students. The Counseling Center offers a variety of services, including group counseling, individual counseling, drug and alcohol services, sexual assault services and even stress-free zones, where students can learn stress-reduction and relaxation techniques.

Students who think they are suffering from depression or other problems can contact the Counseling Center, which starting this fall will be located in the Wellness Center on the second floor of Nordenberg Hall. Those concerned about a fellow student are encouraged to reach out to him or her as well as to the appropriate residence hall adviser.