Beginning college is a unique experience, especially if you’re moving away from home. It’s full of excitement, change, fun, and, of course, work and stress. In the months before move-in, incoming freshmen are poring over shopping lists and online articles like “Top 10 Things You’re Forgetting To Bring To College” or "Quickest Ways To Make Friends In College." The night before, almost all of us were probably triple- and quadruple-checking our bags and boxes, anxious and giddy about not only the fast-approaching morning, but also the next four years that will undoubtedly be over before we know it. We were thinking about meeting our roommates, making good first impressions, and finding our new, lifelong friends. Amid all the packing and remembering and checking, though, some of us were actually trying to forget something, wishing that we could have left it at home.

For several months before coming to Rice, I was trying to find a way to leave certain struggles behind me in New York, and I am confident that many of my peers lugged that figurative extra suitcase here with them as well — and are probably, like me, trying their best to send it away somewhere else.

It’s no longer a secret that mental health concerns on college campuses are increasing. Several studies have shown that depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses and disorders have been on an incline over the duration of the past decade. That fact, while concerning in and of itself, becomes significantly more frightening when one also considers the lack of available resources for assistance, the overall unawareness of what mental illness is as a whole, the stigma that often comes with it, and the widespread variety of conditions that the umbrella term encompasses. A study from 2014 by the National Alliance on Mental Illness reported that while 50 percent of students considered their mental health to be “below average or poor,” 50 percent also had not been educated on these issues before coming to college. Students know that they are experiencing emotions and thoughts that are not considered “normal” or “healthy,” and yet many cannot accurately place what their issue is, or how to properly cope with it.

Despite the fact that most colleges are, simply by virtue of observation and now commonly known statistics, aware of the mental health crisis among their students, adequate support and resources are still typically difficult to find. Here at Rice University, we are fortunate enough to have an easily accessible Counseling and Wellbeing Center where students can meet with clinical counselors and well-being advisors who will offer help, resources, and referrals at no extra fee and without an appointment limit, but most colleges and universities have significantly less to give their students. More often than not, schools will provide a couple of “complementary” appointments, typically around three, before sending students to off-campus therapists or professionals — and oftentimes, insurance won’t cover the additional costs. As a result, many students simply refuse to reach out or notify someone of concerns regarding their mental health.

It isn’t just about anxiety and depression, though — substance abuse and addiction, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, self harm — all of these and many other issues are becoming more and more prevalent on college campuses, and while people ‘know’ about these issues, they don’t really seem to know about them. There is a certain stigma that comes with mental illness, a stereotype of uncontrollably violent individuals, angsty teenagers, and people that are “just overreacting” and “being dramatic.” Some even go so far as to say that certain illnesses are phases that people need to "grow out of." Serious conditions are being overlooked, and clear indicators of greater problems are being misinterpreted as “nothing to worry about.” Too often, we miss cues from our friends and loved ones which may point to mental health concerns because we simply aren’t aware of the true depth and variation that these conditions encompass, and it's always easier to try to deny that there is a problem than it is to admit to it. There’s no one way to be depressed, anxious, eating disordered, bipolar, self-harming, and so forth. Everyone’s struggle is different, and everyone’s struggle is valid.

I know for a fact that I am not the only one who came to college with unwanted baggage. While I am lucky enough to have access to resources not only at Rice, including professionals who are easy to talk to and willing to find additional, insurance-covered help off-campus, but also at the Medical Center just beyond the hedges, many students are not so fortunate.

We have come to a point where enough research has been done to confirm that mental illnesses are real, common, and require licensed assistance to cope with. So I ask only one question: Why are pleas for colleges to set up more reliable counseling and mental health services still falling on deaf ears?

It's time to help us ship off those extra bags. And hopefully by next year, we'll be forgetting to pack them.

For more information about studies concerning the growing mental health concerns among college students, visit these websites:
Psychology Today
American Psychological Association
USA Today
JAMA Psychiatry