Has the number of students requiring counseling or medication peaked? Here’s what colleges are saying. 

A survey of college counseling center directors shows that 10.2% of students sought counseling in the last school year, about the same as the previous two years. This indicates the demand for mental health services on college campuses may be leveling off.

The most common student conditions:

• Depression (37.5%)
• Anxiety (36.8%), and
• Relationship issues (35.9%).

Of those students seeking counseling, nearly a quarter of them were taking psychotropic medications. Larger schools seemed to have proportionately fewer students in counseling: 7.2% of students at schools with more than 35,000 enrolled, compared to 18.3% at schools with enrollment of 1,500 or fewer.

The schools that responded to the survey said the relative stability in numbers could be attributed to the decline in the view of counseling center directors that mental health issues were on the rise at their schools. In 2006 and 2007, 97% said the number of students with severe psychological problems “[was] a growing concern.” That perception dropped to 94% in the most recent study.

Do students make use of your school’s counseling center? Tell us more in the comments section.

Tags: college counseling, mental health