Experiencing anxiety and stress? You’re not alone

Leaving home and beginning a new life at university can be an exciting time but what can you do if you suffer from loneliness or feel anxious and depressed? Here, recent Politics graduate Natasha shares her experience on dealing with anxiety, stress and depression at university…

We’ve all been told that university is the most fun you’ll ever have. Partying, sleeping all day, eating pizza daily and not putting on any weight, turning up to classes wearing pyjamas…and some studying too, mainly in short bursts around exam times. Judging by the small tower of empty pizza boxes that my flatmates and I accumulated over Fresher’s Week, the stereotype is pretty accurate. But sometimes, the smiling faces we see in prospectuses and university open days aren’t a real testament to the day-to-day uni life. I graduated last year and I spent half of my uni days with depression and didn’t know who to turn to or how to deal with it, and I’ve found that a lot of my friends were in a similar situation.

We’re always surrounded by classmates and flatmates, so you might not think it, but students often feel lonely and many are diagnosed with depression. A study by AXA PPP healthcare found that 18–24 year olds are four times as likely to feel lonely than those aged over 70 – it’s surprising, because we don’t normally associate loneliness with our age group. Anxiety and depression aren’t brought up much within the student community, but the number of students seeking help for depression has more than doubled in recent years.

There’s a lot of reasons why students experience depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The majority of us start university just a few months after leaving school and are thrown in to uni halls with a bunch of strangers. The work is harder, you’re expected to know a lot more than you probably do, and you’re often miles away from your friends and family. It’s only natural that we’re going to feel lonely and down. Some students can cope with this and push through the initial difficulties, but a lot of us find it very tough – a lot will lie and say they aren’t struggling at all, because we’ve repeatedly been told to ‘make the most of it’.

So what can we do about it? First and foremost, if you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed, then see your GP or speak to your student support adviser. You may need to wait to see a counsellor, but most universities offer a free counselling service that can make all the difference. Research has found that 81% of students thought counselling helped them stick with their studies. The service is there for us, and you can talk through your problems in a completely non-judgemental environment.

Second, don’t panic. If you’re finding it hard to keep up with your work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s important that you keep your lecturers up-to-date with what’s going on, or if you’re not comfortable approaching them, speak to someone who you can trust. I was initially very wary of doing this – would I be kicked out? – but my department were helpful and supportive and asked me what they could do to help. Some departments will offer you more time to do essays or be a bit more lenient with attendance, which is a huge weight off your mind.

Finally, remember that you’re not alone. Thankfully, a lot of people have spoken out about mental health over the past few years and there’s much less stigma surrounding it. My flatmates would ask me why I wasn’t going out, and I would always make up an excuse – but after about a year of avoiding it, I found the courage to tell them I had been diagnosed with depression. I was overwhelmed with how supportive they were and they didn’t judge me. One of my friends even told me she was so relieved I brought it up, because she was feeling exactly the same. That really hit home for me – I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

Most important of all? Take care of yourself. Try not to sweep mental health issues under the carpet and make use of the support network that universities put in place for us. We don’t need to suffer in silence!

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