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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What percentage are under 24 for mental illness? It seems I l know more kids than ever in the 20-24 year age range suffering from depression, bipolar,etc.....it seems epidemic.[/quote]

Op here - it does seem epidemic. College mental health services are absolutely overwhelmed by the demand for services and can't meet student needs. I work part time in academia and I see it first hand. I pretty much have a steady stream of students through my office who are struggling with their mental health. In my opinion a few reasons for this are...

- most mental illness first present between the ages of 15 and 24. About 75% of adults with mental illnesses report a first occurrence during that age range. With more awareness and on-campus campaigns, it is likely that more students are getting support during these first or early presentations of their illnesses.

-there are two major transitions in the 17-24 age range that are incredibly stressful. The first is the transition to college. For many students this is the first time in a brand new environment away from home supports, first time living on their own, first time with the more rigid expectations that come with post-secondary academics. For some students they get lost in the sea of college, others struggle with the first B or C or D they have ever had, others struggle with too much alcohol/drugs/time online/insufficient sleep due to making their own life decisions for the first time. For kids who may have had more mild illnesses (mild depression or mild anxiety) or those who are vulnerable genetically to mental illness, the coping strategies that they used before are insufficient in this higher stress environment and they illness worsens or rears its head. The second major transition is out of college and into the workforce and there is both the stress of finding a job but also the loss of identity of being a student and all that comes with it that again can trigger or worsen issues.

- a lot of kids who grow up with dysfunction, conflict, abuse or otherwise difficult life circumstances often don't begin to emotionally or mentally deal with these issues until they are in their early twenties (or later). When they are still living the dysfunction, they have to keep it together to survive and get through it so they do. They take life one day at a time and often focus on graduating high school and moving away from home as their goal - but when they achieve that and are in a safe, stable environment where they no longer have to deal with the dysfunction, they fall apart. All the pent up stress and emotion that wasn't safe to express while at home comes out and with it you see depression and other mental health issues.

-kids today do not have to deal with as much adversity overall as kids did in the past and therefore aren't as resilient. I don't mean on an individual basis but just life as we know it has far more conveniences and luxuries than ever before, it gets easier for every generation. While this progress is good, it means there are far less opportunities built into daily living for kids to experience adversity and build resilience. They just don't have to develop, practice and test their coping with hardship skills very often. So when kids grow up and start to take on the adult responsibilities and even meet college expectations - much of this is much harder than anything they have experienced before and they really struggle with managing the expectations.

I hope though that part of the reason we are seeing more is that there is less stigma and more awareness and that changes are being made to better support students. There are more transition programs and self-care campaigns being worked into first year by colleges. There are more options for services and supports (still inadequate) but students see flyers and hear speakers talking about mental health.  [/quote]

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