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Universities may be fueling the mental health crisis

Women's rights > blog > Universities may be fueling the mental health crisis

Universities may be fueling the mental health crisis, the president of the Royal Society of Medicine has said, with many mistaking loneliness for depression.

Sir Simon Wessely, who is regius professor of psychiatry King’s College London, warned that universities must not ‘over medicalize’ the normal emotions of young adults, telegraph.co.uk wrote.

He urged universities to stop aimlessly throwing money at mental health initiatives when ‘very few’ have been tested, and some may even be making things worse.

“There are things that aren’t disorders at all that students habitually get — exam stress, loneliness and so on — all of which can be problematic,” said Wessely said.

“But we shouldn’t go round automatically saying ‘Oh you have a psychiatric disorder, you need psychiatric or mental health or professional health’.”

He said there is an ‘overwhelming mountain of research’ to show that best way to protect against mental health problems is to draw on active social networks.

Having a group of friends who you can confide in is a ‘probably better’ for students than seeking professional health as friends “don’t involve the risk of maybe thinking you have a disorder when you don’t.”

“Loneliness is a major problem for the current student population,” Wessely said.

“There is quite a lot of evidence that says that the solution may not be to see a counsellor, but it may be to join a choir.”

Wessely, who is a former president of Royal College Psychiatrists, said that randomized trials have demonstrated that involvement in an artistic endeavor or community project are an effective way to build resilience.

Rather than spending thousands of pounds on a raft of new mental health projects and initiatives, universities should invest money in researching what is effective.

“Some will be doing good, a lot of them will probably be doing nothing, and a few will be doing harm.

“In three years’ time you will really wish that you had [done some research] because when you run out of money for all these schemes — which you will — how will you know which are the five support among the 65 that you’ve tried?”

Wessely’s comments come after the universities minister told universities that they risk ‘failing a generation of students’ unless they take action to prevent a looming mental health crisis.

Source:Irandaily

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