(UK) Fivefold increase in university students with mental health problems

Oct 28, 2017, UK Guardian: Campus Confidential: The counselors on the frontline of the student mental health crisis https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/28/campus-confidential-counsellors-student-mental-health-crisis Last month, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published a report revealing that nationally, the number of first-year students who disclose a mental health problem has risen fivefold in the past decade. A record number of students with mental health problems dropped out of university in 2015, the latest year for which figures are available. In the same year, 134 students killed themselves, the highest number on record. Similarly, the number of UK students seeking counselling has rocketed by 50% in the past five years, to more than 37,000, according to figures obtained by the Guardian. This trend is reflected at NTU: wellbeing services received 38% more referrals last year than in 2014/15. ...

Student Services manager Alison Bromberg says the most common mental health problems reported by NTU students are anxiety and depression. … Sam is one of more than 2,000 students who received help over the last academic year at NTU, an average of 80 a week; or more than 11 students every day. Student services manager Alison Bromberg says this is not just a problem for universities: “Whatever is happening in society will happen in university, so whatever you see here is reflected in the country.” The statistics back her up: in February, in a survey by the Association of Schools and College Leaders, 55% of schools reported an increase in stress and anxiety among their pupils. A 200,000-strong study found that young people in the UK have the poorest mental wellbeing in the world, with the exception of Japan.