Graduate Student Mental Health: Metrics, Trends, and Resources

1. Graduate Student Mental Health:Metrics, Trends, and Resources Scott Becker, Ph.D., Acting Director COGS Meeting MSU Counseling Center February 12, 2014

2. Overview Graduate Student Mental Health

3. Metrics • Surveys (NCHA, Big 10, Berkeley) • MSUCC data Trends • Increased prevalence • Increased acuity • Impact of technology Resources and Proposed Actions • Clinical and wellness resources • Proposed actions

4. METRICS:2012 NCHA SURVEY Graduate Student Mental Health Source: 2012 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) Sorted by Allyson Rogers, MA, Olin Health Center

5. Sense of Loneliness: 43% Total Ever felt lonely: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

6. Anxiety Symptoms: 44% Total Ever felt overwhelming anxiety: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

7. Sense of being Overwhelmed: 88% Total Ever felt overwhelmed: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

8. Depression: 32% Total Ever felt so depressed it was difficult to function: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

9. Suicidal Ideation: 5% Total Ever seriously considered: NCHA, 2012, MSU Graduate Students

10. Suicidal Ideation: Other Studies • Big Ten Student Suicide Study • 10-year analysis of 261 suicides at 12 Midwestern universities from 1980 to 1990 • graduate students were at greater risk for suicide than undergraduate students • Berkeley Graduate Student Mental Health Survey • 45 percent experienced “an emotional or stress-related problem that significantly affected their well being and/or academic performance” • 10 percent “seriously considered suicide” • Nearly 25 percent didn’t know about the university’s mental health services (even fewer international students) • Female students “were more likely to report feeling hopeless, exhausted, sad, or depressed”

11. Insomnia: 3% Total Last 12 months diagnosed/treated: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

12. Other Sleep Disorders: 4% Total Last 12 months diagnosed/treated: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

13. Diagnosed with Anxiety: 12% Total Last 12 months diagnosed/treated, anxiety: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

14. Diagnosed with Depression: 11% Total Last 12 months diagnosed/treated, depression: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

15. History of Depression: 19% Total Ever diagnosed with depression: *U.S. Students more than twice as likely to have a history of diagnosed depression NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

16. Stress Level: 12% Report “Tremendous Stress”57% Report “More than Average Stress” During Last 12 months: NCHA, 2012 - MSU Graduate Students

17. METRICS:MSU COUNSELING CENTER DATA Graduate Student Mental Health Source: MSUCC 2012-2013 Annual Report

18. Graduate/Professional Students at MSUCC MSUCC 2012-2013 Annual Report

19. International: 137 (32% of 426)

20. Top 5 Countries of Origin

21. % of Clients* by Diagnostic Clusters *Total numbers for graduate and undergraduate students

22. National Prevalence in UCCsCompared to MSUCC Source: AUCCCD survey, 2012

23. Academic Performance and Retention Negative Impact of Mental Health issues: • At initial assessment,53% (960 students) report that their presenting mental-health concerns were negatively impacting their academic performance. • At initial assessment,12% (290 students) report that they had strongly considered leaving school as a result of their mental-health issues. Source: MSU Counseling Center Annual Report, 2012-2013

24. Academic Performance and Retention: Positive impact of counseling/psychotherapy: • In an outcome survey, 62% (616 students) report that their services at MSUCC improved their academic performance. • In an outcome survey, 46% (457 students) report that their services helped them remain enrolled at MSU. Source: MSU Counseling Center Annual Report, 2012-2013

25. Graduate Student Mental Health TRENDS: NATIONAL DATA

26. Increased Acuity:Paradigm Shift in University Mental Health

27. National Trends • Increased acuity of presenting concerns at university counseling centers: • Prevalence of severe psychological disorders has nearly tripled • Increase in high-risk behaviors such as harm to self and others • Increase in psychiatric medication • Increase in hospitalizations • Increased demand for services was reported by 93% of university counseling center directors (AUCCD, 2012) • Staff of UCCs have, on average, not grown in the past 15 years • MSUCC: increase of 76% in students seen in direct service from 2006-2012

28. Possible Explanations • Availability of mental health treatment for children and adolescents • Socioeconomic stressors • Financial stressors due to parental unemployment • Competition for grades, internships, jobs post-graduation • Collective/cultural anxiety • 9/11 • Virginia Tech, etc. • Recognition and reporting of trauma, including childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault • De-stigmatizing of mental health treatment; increased help-seeking • Social media and the over-use of recreational technology

29. Technology and Mental Health “This is an issue as important and unprecedented as climate change.” --Susan Greenfield, Prof. of Pharmacology, Oxford U. • Increased Media Exposure • Sleep • Attention, Memory, and Learning • Anxiety and OCD • Addiction • Depression • Emotion Regulation • Identity and Relationships • Narcissism and Empathy

30. Technology and the Brain • “…the brain is substantially shaped by what we do to it. When I say ‘shaped’, I'm not talking figuratively or metaphorically; I'm talking literally. At a microcellular level, the infinitely complex network of nerve cells that make up the constituent parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences and stimuli. The brain, in other words, is malleable - not just in early childhood but right up to early adulthood, and, in certain instances, beyond.” • Susan Greenfield, Professor of Pharmacology, Oxford University • http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/does-mind-have-future-audio

31. RESOURCES & PROPOSED ACTIONS Graduate Student Mental Health

32. Resources • Counseling Center • Student Health Services at Olin • Graduate Student Wellness • Employee Assistance Program • Mental Health Professionals affiliated with Professional Schools (e.g., CHM and Vet Med) • Residence Education • Neighborhood Clinics • Office for International Students and Scholars • Community Mental Health • Off-campus providers • Psychological Clinic • Couple and Family Therapy Clinic • Fee Hall Psychiatry

33. Proposed Actions • Survey of faculty and administrators regarding student mental health • Disruptive behaviors • Distressed and high-risk behaviors • Safety concerns • Drain on productivity • MSUCC study of academic performance and retention • Increased mental health consultation and crisis intervention • Counseling Center Liaisons to Colleges and Departments • CARES meetings in academic departments • Counselors-in-Residence in the Neighborhoods • Increased mental-health gatekeeper training with advisors and faculty

35. Additional MSUCC Data Note: all data includes undergraduate and graduate students