Depression in Students
Anxiety and depression have become rampant among students currently. More often than not, students just like other people, do not know when they are falling into depression or anxiety (Reilly, 2015). However, the two have resulted in bad occurrences in the learning institutions such as poor performance and sometimes suicide (Merrell, 2013). This has necessitated the formation of counseling functions in the schools' administration units, to help students navigate through the challenges. These functions support the students to identify the issues affecting them, assess the level of damage and eventually guide them through recovery (Reilly, 2015). They also carry out routine checks to ensure that the affected students have recovered fully and have resumed their healthy lives.
Causes of Depression and Anxiety in Students
A lot has been said about depression. People have resulted in self-medication to calm the effects of depression without addressing the real causes of depression (Merrell, 2013). For successful recovery from depression, it is important that the causes are well resolved. Previously, students and teenage depression were not common. Depression was associated with adults, and as such, there were no significant efforts to help students and teenagers to manage their problems. However, studies undertaken in the recent past indicate that more teenagers are falling into depression (Reilly, 2015). There are several causes of depression in students. Some of these reasons are:
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
• Historical events or experiences (Busch, Rudden & Shapiro, 2016). Past experiences such as abuse can create emotional distress leading to depression among the students.
• Inability to meet societal or family expectations. Sometimes, families and societies burden the students with high expectations on who they should become. When the students fail to meet these expectations, they often fall into depression.
• Drug and substance abuse. Most people abusing drugs and other substances often fall into depression (Busch, Rudden & Shapiro, 2016). Most students result in taking drugs as a result of depression.
• Stigmatization and prejudice. Students who are facing some form of stigmatization or bias often find themselves in depression (Busch, Rudden & Shapiro, 2016).
• Losing someone close. Sometimes, students lose their loved ones either through death or broken relationships. This could result in depression.
• Occurrences such as family breakups or parents divorcing have a significant impact on the students emotional sobriety (Busch, Rudden & Shapiro, 2016). Students who are unable to manage their emotions often fall into depression.
Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Students
Depression can manifest itself in different ways. There are no specific symptoms that characterize depression. However, some of the general symptoms of depression include:
• Depressed mood during most times in the day (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• Failure to find pleasure in activities that were previously considered to be pleasing such as co-curricular activities such as football (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• Significant weight loss (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• Increased or diminished appetite (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• High level of agitation and a feeling of restlessness.
• Increased feeling of fatigue or loss of energy in most of the times (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• A feeling of worthlessness or guilt among other students.
• Inability to concentrate on important issues such as studies.
• Having recurrent thoughts of death and at times attempting suicide (Empfield & Bakalar, 2013).
• Cases of insomnia
All these symptoms are common in people suffering from depression. One can easily take note of either of them to establish whether he or she is suffering from depression.
How to Manage Students Depression
If not handled appropriately, depression could have long-term effects on a student’s life. These could be either academic or future life (Merrell, 2013). There are different ways of managing and handling cases of depression among students. Some of these methods are preventive while others help the affected students to overcome the problem of depression. These methods are similar to handling adult depression.
One of the ways of managing students’ depression and anxiety is by encouraging self-awareness and self-management among students. Self-awareness refers to the ability to recognize one’s emotions accurately. It also includes understanding the social environment that one lives in, and the behaviors of other people that they interact with. Understanding one’s emotions help to identify the symptoms accurately. Students should, therefore, be taken through programs that help them to understand their emotions well as this helps to avoid possibilities of depression.
Another way of handling or managing depression is by encouraging more social activities among the students ("Depression Support and Advocacy", 2018). This includes engaging the students in group activities or games. These activities help to create an environment through which the students can interact and share widely with other students ("Depression Support and Advocacy", 2018). Usually, people suffering from depression turn into solitude which helps to accelerate the disorder. Encouraging more group activities help to lower the instances of isolation, and thus helping to manage the problem.
Talk therapy is the ultimate cure for depression. In most organizations, there are structured departments with qualified practitioners ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018). Learning institutions are encouraged to establish counseling functions to help the students to recover from the depression. Therapy helps to identify the problems that are affecting the students and help them maneuver through the disorder. Once the students are diagnosed with the disorder, therapy helps them to recover from the problem. There are three types of talk therapy that research indicates are helpful to students ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018). These are:
• Cognitive behavioral therapy. This focuses on the thoughts, the feelings and the behaviors that are related to depression ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018).
• Interpersonal psychotherapy. This type of therapy focuses on helping to build working relationships ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018).
• Dialectical behavior therapy. This type of therapy is useful when depression has reached the level of self-destruction or self-harming behavior ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018).
The health practitioner or counselors can also advice on the possible medication that the student can use to lower the effect of depression ("NIMH » Depression and College Students", 2018). This medication is given depending on the doctor’s assessment of the level of impact that the depression has on the patient.
Resources Available to Help Students Suffering from Depression
Technology has made it possible to access help from different organizations in America. This includes providing information on ways of treating and managing depression that students can easily access through the internet. Other than the information acquired on the internet, the internet also offers locations that students can go to seek assistance from. These include health institutions and other medical facilities that help manage issues of mental health and depression disorders.
Learning institutions have also introduced counseling departments in their institutions. These departments are made available to the students to help them solve their mental or emotional disorders ("Depression Support and Advocacy", 2018). There are qualified practitioners who help the students to navigate through the problems. These practitioners are guarded by the code of ethics governing therapists and other psychologists which help to maintain privacy and students confidentiality.
Some learning institutions have also formed support groups through which students can share their experiences with their peers. These support groups help the students to engage with each other and learn from one other on ways of managing and overcoming the depression problem. An advantage with these groups is that the students are able and free to discuss issues affecting them. The first step to recovery is accepting the problem, and by sharing, the students have accepted and thus help recover much faster.
References
Busch, F., Rudden, M., & Shapiro, T. (2016). Psychodynamic treatment of depression. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
Depression Support and Advocacy. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/depression-support-and-advocacy
Empfield, M., & Bakalar, N. (2013). Understanding teenage depression. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Merrell, K. (2013). Helping students overcome depression and anxiety (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
NIMH » Depression and College Students. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-and-college-students/index.shtml
Reilly, N. (2015). Anxiety and Depression in the Classroom. W.W. Norton.
