Mental health of students in higher education

College Report CR166Students who experience conditions such as these should be a primaryconcern of NHS psychiatric services and will usually be managed bymultidisciplinary mental health teams. Tertiary care services in the NHSshould also be available for students with other diagnoses such as severeeating disorders, addictions and personality disorders.At the less severe end of the spectrum are conditions that are milderwith regard to distress and disability. Nevertheless, these may still havea deleterious impact on a students’ ability to complete their courseworkon time or to revise effectively for their examinations. There are varioustreatment possibilities in such cases. Some of these conditions are selflimitingand will simply remit with the passage of time. In other instances,the student will be able to draw on non-professional support such as familyand friends as a way of achieving the resolution of symptoms. Other studentswill seek the help of a tutor, student service or GP. Some practices employcounsellors or psychologists on a sessional basis and can manage a range ofconditions without the need for referral to secondary services.If one accepts a broad-range definition of mental disorder (e.g. apositive score on the GHQ), it is unrealistic now (and probably for theforeseeable future) to expect health or counselling services to be ableto offer direct face-to-face therapy for all those who may wish to availthemselves of it. There is therefore a need to prioritise demands againstthe resources available to meet these. This prioritisation should be based onfactors such as severity of distress, disability, impact on academic progressand the likelihood of benefit in response to whatever treatment is on offer.A further option is to increase the availability of, and access to, self-helpprogrammes such as proprietary or web-based interactive cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) (e.g. Beating the Blues (www.beatingtheblues.co.uk) and MoodGYM (http://moodgym.anu.edu.au) for people with mildand moderate depression, and FearFighter (www.fearfighter.com) for peoplewith panic and phobia).Why focus on students?Student service managers, counsellors and mental health advisors reportincreasing numbers of clients and an increase in the severity of theproblems that trouble them. Some of this increased demand is a result ofthe unprecedented expansion in the number of young adults entering highereducation. Just over 80% of the respondents to a recent survey of UK highereducation institutions undertaken by the MWBHE reported that demand formental health provision had significantly increased over the previous 5 years,and a further 13% thought that it had ‘slightly increased’ (Grant, 2011).Although there are examples of good practice in prevention, treatment andrehabilitation, in general there is a pressing need for an increase in theavailability of comprehensive assessment and treatment services as wellas mental health promotion activity both at organisational and individuallevel. Several important factors highlight the importance of this issue toindividuals, their families and the wider society.There is a perception among some health professionals that studentsare privileged young people and that their demands for mental healthservices should therefore be lower. However, young adults between theages of 18 and 25 are at high risk of developing serious mental illnessessuch as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Such conditions can sometimesbe difficult to diagnose in their early stages. There is a growing body of20 http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk