College is stressful. 

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that 30 percent of college students said their academic performance was hindered due to stress, 41.6 percent believed that anxiety was the main issue for college students and 85 percent reported feeling overwhelmed at some point within the last year. 

If you are a college student, these statistics probably did not surprise you. Juggling school, work, friends, family and everything else going on in your life while simultaneously trying to figure out and prepare for your future is a lot to think about and can lead to some real health problems.

A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that “anxiety is the top presenting concern among college students (41.6 percent), followed by depression (36.4 percent).” 

When you are juggling all of your responsibilities and doing everything you can to stay on top of everything, it can be easy to forget about yourself. Just as you need to take care of yourself physically by eating healthy, exercising and keeping up with your hygiene, you also need to take care of yourself mentally. 

Although it’s important to get help whenever you feel you need it, it’s also important to know the differences between experiencing stress and having a mental illness. 

If you feel nervous about a test or are worried about getting all of your homework done, you may be stressed. If you can’t explain why you’re nervous or worried, you may have an anxiety disorder.

If you are feeling down after a breakup or failing a class, you may feel depressed, but that doesn’t mean you have depression. If you are experiencing feelings of such low lows that you are not able to function, you might have depression. 

These are very vague generalizations of just a few symptoms of two examples of mental illness. If you feel overwhelmed, anxious, depressed or feel like you may have a mental health issue, there are many resources for you on campus including Student Counseling Services and Thielen Student Health Center. 

Student Counseling Services offers counseling in their offices for individual, career, couples, group, crisis, student-athletes and Veterinary Medicine students. They also connect patients to other services on campus or in the community that they feel will help the most. 

Thielen Student Health Center also offers services that can help identify and then work to treat students’ mental health issues. 

Extreme cases of mental health can lead anyone, including students to considering suicide. According to Emory University, there are more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses every year. Because of these statistics, suicide prevention is a major concern on college campuses and everyone should be aware of the symptoms of suicidal thoughts in themselves as well as others which are outlined here.