Mental Health & College

 So How Does Mental Health Issues Effect the Life of a College Student?

An Interview- Some Q&A's

I interviewed my best friend of 16 years. She is a student at the University of Utah. I have always been curious about how similar our mental illnesses are and what similarities and differences we have between them. The 6 questions I asked her was:

1. What mental illness/illnesses do you suffer from?

2. How does your mental illness affect your day to day life?

3. Does school affect your health?

4. Do you associate any events in your life with your mental illness?

5. How has living with this condition shaped who you are today?

6. What can I do to be there for you, and help you feel as supported as I can?

I would like to go over each of her answers as well:

1. I currently suffer from Depression, Anxiety, and slightly still overcoming Anorexia. I have come a long way with my Anorexia, starting when I was in high school I began having issues with eating or if I did eat I would end up starving myself for hours after or immediately feel guilty and try to burn it off. I still sometimes feel guilt after a meal, and sometimes struggle eating but overall I have come a long way.

2. My depression can stop me from getting up in the morning, some days are worse than usual. It’s actually super hard to explain how depression makes me feel other than empty and worthless. My anxiety is awful and actually has kept me from attending college in person. All of my classes are online, because the first semester I took in college I had multiple panic attacks during class and ended up in the hospital.

3. School makes my anxiety worse ten fold. When school work gets heavy everything else in my life starts failing. My body, my depression gets super bad and I end up isolating myself in my house. I tend to have panic attacks at least 3 times a week during semester. The winter makes everything bad as well, so mostly I thrive in summer when school is out. I actually did not take classes this semester due to my mental health being so bad, my anxiety would not allow me to focus on anything so I took this time to focus on my health and body.

4. I fully associate all of high school with my anorexia as well as the start to my depression and anxiety. Not really one event in particular but during High School I could rarely ever go to class or end up skipping class due to my anxiety. I was also in and out of the doctors trying to fix my body issues from my illness.

5. Living with my conditions have made me stronger than I ever thought I could be. It also gave me the confidence to push forward and make a better life for myself. I am completely the person I need to be at this moment because of my conditions and what I have gone through.

6. 
   
   Being a friend to me when I need or ask for it is the best thing you can do for me. Checking up with me is also a really nice way to show me that you are there for me. Sometimes I tend to push people away, and when I do that I want everyone to understand I do not mean to and I appreciate all positive words and checking up and asking how I am doing.

Immediately after talking with her and asking her questions about her illness I completely understood how many other college students could feel just like she does. She mentioned that it all started in high school, which when I researched showed that anorexia typically begins in late adolescence, early adulthood. I have talked to many other people who had anxiety or depression throughout high school and missed a lot of classes. Myself being one as well. Now that we are in college we are adding many more stressors, the biggest being balancing school with work, money, and mental health. I am positive many college students can relate to my friends struggles and issues as well.