Rising Rates of College Mental Health Services Utilization

A new study from a large study shows a sharp increase in the use of services from 2007 to 2017.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, the rate of mental health problems among university-aged youth has increased steadily. Scientific publications, the popular press and social media accounts have documented what many see as an epidemic of anxiety, depression, suicide and substance use disorders in this age group. Annual surveys of university administrators, directors of counseling centers and student health directors show a dramatic increase in the demand for mental health services by university students, often going so far as to exhaust available resources. However, much of this information is obtained from clinical samples and population studies are very rare. The authors of this study are seasoned researchers from the Health Minds Study (HMS), a large online survey that surveys college and university students each year about mental health, service utilization and related factors. This report analyzes responses to the 2007-2017 survey of 155,026 students across 196 US campuses.

The holders of their results are:

• Depression rates went from 24.8% in 2009 to 29.9% in 2017.
• The rate of suicidal ideation increased from 5.8% in 2007 to 10.8% in 2017.
• Treatment rates over the past year increased from 18.7% in 2007 to 33.8% in 2017.
• The proportion of students with a diagnosed mental health problem increased from 21.9% in 2007 to 35.5% in 2017.
• Among students suffering from depression, treatment rates last year went from 42.5% in 2009 to 53.3% in 2017.
• Personal stigma associated with mental health treatment decreased from 8.2% to 5.1% over the decade of the study.

There is so much bad news that there is good news in these numbers. On the other hand, more and more students are depressed and feel suicidal as never before and almost half of depressed students receive no treatment. On the positive side, more students are asking for help: tuition fees have almost doubled in a decade. At the same time, personal stigma has decreased significantly (which may partly explain the increased use of the service). Reported results are limited, including a relatively low survey response rate (23-29% in recent years), lack of quality metrics for mental health treatment, reliance on simple stigma measures, and absence of articles on anxiety, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder: this is an impressive survey.

What are the implications of the results? To begin with, this confirms the concerns of many people that mental health problems among college and university students are steadily increasing. He then explains the growing demand for services facing academic mental health programs. And this shows that a significant cultural shift is occurring, that is, young people are less afraid to ask for help when they need it, even if a significant percentage continues to avoid treatment.

The authors of this study recommend increasing campus resources to meet the growing demand for services, as well as for the implementation of universal prevention programs and improved referral to community resources. They also highlight the growing database and general acceptability of digital youth mental health programs: new resources that could help more struggling students get help. It is hard to argue against increasing campus resources for the prevention and treatment of mental health. However, important questions remain. Who should pay for these services? How to measure and improve the quality of care? How can we make care more acceptable to those who need it most? And how can we involve families and peers to provide social support when a youth is in crisis?

Beyond that, there are many questions about politicians barely discussed in the United States. Including the lack of parity in the treatment of mental health in most health insurance schemes, the shortage of mental health providers in many communities and the lack of a national promotion policy of health. and the well-being of young people of transition age. Most other developed societies consider adolescence and early adulthood to be stages of development worthy of public investment in higher education and vocational training for all citizens. When will we face the truth that our market-based, individualistic and fragmented approach simply does not fit the future challenges?