sarahlipson

Let me start by saying that as a professor myself, I have struggled with the same guilt in recent weeks. So here are some things I remind myself of: a huge body of research from neuroscience, psychology, and education has shown that memory, cognition, concentration, motivation (all hugely important to learning outcomes and academic performance) are negatively affected by fear, anxiety, loneliness, isolation, etc. etc. With that in mind, it makes complete sense that you're "not meeting deadlines and getting work done that you normally would." It's more challenging to do "deep work" under current circumstances.

I also want to acknowledge that I know how hard it is for students to tell professors when they are struggling with their mental and emotional health. Ideally faculty are making space for students to share updates like this--having an open door, even if not physically. I think faculty can do this in many ways, including checking in with students proactively and making space in class (I do so at the beginning of class) for students to share high's/low's of the week. I have more thoughts on what faculty can be doing to support students, but let me just end by saying that the smartest/most high performing students (and faculty) are struggling. I am impressed when students speak up and share what they're going through. If speaking up to tell a professor that your mental health is affecting your academic performance results in that professor not writing you a letter of recommendation in the future, reach out to me and I will write you a letter! :)

Congratulations on recently graduating! It's an understatement to say that it's "challenging" to go from seeing your friends regularly in person, to seeing them only on FaceTime. So I just want to acknowledge how hard that is.

In terms of looking for a job with your new degree, I think the key word here is "looking." This could actually be an ideal time to be "looking" for a job and to be taking the time to really think about your goals, career trajectory, the type of work environment you want, etc. etc. Sometimes the transition from graduating to starting a job can be so fast that recent graduates end up in a job and wonder "how did I end up here?" I encourage you to take this as an opportunity to be intentional about thinking about the career that you want. From there, informational interviews (by phone, Zoom, FaceTime) could be a great way to further refine what you are looking for and make connections that could be valuable moving forward. If your alma mater has a career services center, I would also encourage you to reach out to them. If they have not yet developed materials to support recent graduates job searching amidst the pandemic, you can advocate for them to develop resources, since I guarantee you are not alone in being in this position. Good luck to you!

Excellent question! The prevalence of mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, eating disorders, etc.) varies across different age groups. Overall, mental health conditions are the largest burden of disease among adolescents and young adults. The former director of the National Institute of Mental Health referred to mental illnesses as "the chronic diseases of the young." So it's important to compare college student populations to their same-aged peers, namely adolescents and young adults who are not in college. When comparing college students to their peers who are not in college, the prevalence is very similar. In other words, college students aren't doing significantly better or worse than non-college-students. There has been limited research on this, but one of the largest comparative studies on mental and behavioral health found similar rates in the two groups with the exception of binge drinking being higher in college students and rates of schizophrenia being higher in non-college-attending adolescents and young adults.

As for what contributes to the generally high rates in adolescents and young adults, there are many factors, as you might imagine. The main explanations are likely factors that are common to young people throughout the U.S. and probably many other countries. Social media use has been one factor that has been talked about a lot as a potentially important contributor to rising rates, as have sociopolitical factors that contribute to concerns such as ecoanxiety (fear about environmental damage and climate change). Sociologists have also talked about intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, societally.

For more information, check out this article by my colleague Daniel Eisenberg in the Journal of Adolescent Health called "Countering the Troubling Increase in Mental Health Symptoms Among U.S. College Students."

This is a great question and something I think about a lot as someone in public health, where the focus is on PREVENTION. There are opportunities to educate students about mental health at all levels, beginning in elementary school and extending to college and university environments. In particular, incorporating mental health education into college curriculums is especially important (now more than ever). It is not yet the norm that colleges and universities are offering courses in mental health (or related topics like Social Emotional Learning). Because college is often a time of new freedom and autonomy for students and because nearly two-thirds of all adolescents and young adults in the U.S. enroll in postsecondary education, teaching about mental health, coping skills, how to seek help and serve as a "gatekeeper" for peers, etc. has the potential to improve lifelong trajectories.

So how good is our mental health education system? I'd say that we have a long way to go because the opportunity is so enormous. We are seeing promising examples in K-12, particularly for teaching Social Emotional Learning, and in higher education, particularly through first-year seminars. However, from my perspective this is far from the norm presently!

This person is lucky to have you in their life, to have someone who is actively trying to support them as they consider new options to treat their depression. You are amazing to be asking these questions, all of which are super important. I am not a mental health clinician, and unfortunately I don't know much about the use of mushrooms to treat depression. I believe the organization MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) is one of the leading organizations in this area, so you might check out the evidence posted on their website: https://maps.org/. Best of luck to you and your loved one!