How Can We Solve the College Student Mental Health Crisis? | Dr. Tim Bono | TEDxWUSTL

Summary

This talk addresses the mental health crisis among college students, highlighting the disconnect between the idealized college experience portrayed by admissions offices and the reality students face. The speaker, a psychologist in higher education, emphasizes the importance of managing expectations to mitigate the crisis. They suggest that happiness is influenced by the gap between experiences and expectations, and the happiest students are those with realistic expectations and coping strategies for challenges. The speaker advocates for transparency about college life's difficulties to foster resilience and well-being.

Takeaways

• 🤔 The college student mental health crisis is a significant concern for university administrators and faculty.
• 🏫 A survey revealed that 66% of college presidents see student mental health as their top concern.
• 📈 The rise in students suffering from depression and anxiety is alarming and a key driver of the mental health crisis.
• 🎓 The admissions presentations often paint an idealized picture of college life, which may not align with the reality of student experiences.
• 🔍 The contrast between the idealized college experience and the actual challenges faced by students can contribute to mental health issues.
• 🧩 The formula for happiness as 'what we have divided by what we want' suggests that unrealistic expectations can lower student happiness.
• 👨‍🏫 The speaker, as a faculty advisor, consistently hears that unrealistic expectations are a primary driver of the mental health crisis.
• 🎞️ Cultural myths and media portrayals contribute to students having an inflated sense of what college life should be like.
• 🚫 It's important for prospective students to understand that college will have its challenges and that's a normal part of the experience.
• 🌟 The happiest students are those with realistic expectations and strategies to cope with the inevitable setbacks they will face.
• 💪 Developing resilience and coping skills is key to overcoming challenges and maintaining well-being during and after college.

Q & A

What was the primary focus of the conference the speaker attended?

The primary focus of the conference was to gain insight into solving the college student mental health crisis.

What did the Chronicle of Higher Education survey reveal about college presidents' concerns?

The survey revealed that 66% of college presidents identified student mental health as their top concern, outweighing other issues.

Why did the speaker decide to attend the admissions presentation?

The speaker decided to attend the admissions presentation out of curiosity after hearing it was about to begin while they were taking a walk around campus.

What was the admissions officer's portrayal of college life during the presentation?

The admissions officer portrayed college life as idyllic, focusing on positive experiences, internships, research opportunities, student organizations, campus activities, and amenities.

How did the speaker's experience at the admissions presentation relate to the mental health crisis?

The speaker realized that the idealized portrayal of college life might contribute to unrealistic expectations, which could exacerbate the mental health crisis when students face inevitable challenges that don't align with those expectations.

What does the happiness formula mentioned in the script suggest about college students' happiness?

The happiness formula suggests that a college student's happiness is determined by the ratio of their positive experiences (what they have) to their expectations (what they want), implying that unrealistic expectations can lead to unhappiness.

What role do unrealistic expectations play in the student mental health crisis according to the speaker?

Unrealistic expectations can lead to disappointment and a sense of not belonging when students' actual experiences do not match the lofty promises and cultural myths about college life.

What has the speaker learned from studying college students' happiness over the years?

The speaker has learned that the happiest students are those with realistic expectations about college challenges and who have strategies to cope effectively or know where to seek help.

What message does the speaker have for new college students regarding their expectations?

The speaker advises new students to be excited about the positive experiences college offers but also to be mindful of their expectations to avoid setting themselves up for disappointment.

What does the speaker suggest could help alleviate the college student mental health crisis?

The speaker suggests that being more open and upfront with students about the challenges they will face, along with promoting behaviors that contribute to well-being, could help reduce the crisis and foster resilience.

What is the speaker's view on the role of college admissions presentations?

The speaker believes that while admissions presentations are important for exciting students about college, it's also crucial to communicate the full scope of the college experience, including the challenges, to set realistic expectations.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 The College Mental Health Crisis

The speaker, a psychologist in higher education, attended a conference focused on addressing the mental health crisis among college students. A survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that 66% of college presidents considered student mental health their top concern. During the conference, the speaker attended an admissions presentation that showcased the positive aspects of college life, yet this contrasted sharply with the mental health data discussed at the conference. The speaker suggests that the discrepancy between the idealized college experience and the reality contributes to the mental health crisis, as students often face challenges that don't align with their expectations.

05:00

🎓 Unrealistic Expectations and College Life

The speaker discusses the impact of unrealistic expectations on college students' mental health. Many students enter college with an idealized view of their experience, influenced by admissions presentations and societal myths that portray college as the best years of one's life. When these students encounter the inevitable challenges of college life, they often feel like they are failing or don't belong. The speaker, while not criticizing admissions officers, emphasizes the importance of preparing students for the realities of college, including the difficulties they will face. The speaker advises new students to be excited about college but also to manage their expectations and develop strategies for coping with challenges to maintain their mental health and well-being.

Keywords

💡Mental Health Crisis

The term 'Mental Health Crisis' refers to a period of acute psychological distress or a situation where mental health issues are prevalent among a significant portion of the population. In the context of the video, it specifically addresses the rising concerns about college students' mental health, with a focus on the increasing rates of depression and anxiety. The script highlights that 66 percent of students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety and 46 percent felt so depressed they could not function, indicating a significant crisis in college student mental health.

💡College Administrators

College administrators are the management personnel responsible for the oversight and administration of colleges and universities. The video discusses a conference attended by these administrators, emphasizing their concern for student mental health as the top issue, as reported by a survey conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. This term is crucial as it represents the authorities who are directly involved in addressing the mental health crisis on campuses.

💡Unrealistic Expectations

Unrealistic expectations refer to beliefs or anticipations that are not grounded in reality or are excessively idealistic. In the video, the speaker suggests that many students enter college with an unrealistic view of what their experience will be like, often due to the sensationalized portrayals of college life. This leads to a disconnect between what students expect and the actual challenges they face, contributing to the mental health crisis. The concept is used to explain why students might feel overwhelmed or inadequate when confronted with the realities of college life.

💡Happiness Formula

The 'Happiness Formula' mentioned in the video is a psychological concept that equates happiness to what one has divided by what one wants. It is used to illustrate how college students' happiness can be affected by their experiences (the numerator) and their expectations (the denominator). The video argues that having realistic expectations can lead to greater happiness, as it prevents the disappointment that comes from unmet lofty ideals.

💡Admissions Presentation

An 'Admissions Presentation' is a session conducted by colleges to attract prospective students by showcasing the institution's strengths and opportunities. The video describes an admissions presentation that the speaker attended, where the officer highlighted the positive aspects of college life. This term is significant as it contrasts the idealized image of college presented during such events with the actual challenges students face, which can exacerbate the mental health crisis.

💡Cultural Myths

Cultural myths are widely held but false beliefs that are perpetuated by societal narratives. The video discusses how cultural myths about college, often propagated through movies and social media, contribute to unrealistic expectations among students. These myths sensationalize college as the best years of one's life, which can lead to a mental health crisis when students' actual experiences do not align with these glorified expectations.

💡Peer Counseling Center

A 'Peer Counseling Center' is a service within educational institutions where students provide emotional support and guidance to their peers. The speaker mentions being a faculty advisor for such a center, emphasizing the role of peer support in addressing mental health issues. This term is relevant as it represents one of the resources available to students to cope with the challenges they face during their college years.

💡Resilience

Resilience refers to the ability to recover quickly from difficulties and to adapt to change or adversity. In the video, the speaker suggests that fostering resilience in students could be a key to addressing the mental health crisis. It implies that helping students develop coping strategies and a mindset to overcome setbacks can contribute to their well-being and success, both during and after college.

💡Well-being

Well-being encompasses an individual's physical health, mental state, and overall sense of happiness and fulfillment. The video discusses the importance of well-being in the context of college students, suggesting that it should be a focus alongside academic success. The term is used to emphasize that mental health is integral to a student's overall college experience and future life success.

💡Flourishing

Flourishing is a term used to describe a state of optimal mental health and well-being, where individuals not only feel good but also function well and strive for personal growth. In the video, the speaker hopes that by addressing the mental health crisis, college students can move towards flourishing, indicating a holistic approach to mental health that goes beyond the absence of mental illness to include positive psychological functioning.

Highlights

The conference aimed to address the college student mental health crisis, a top concern for college administrators.

66% of college presidents identified student mental health as their most pressing concern.

The speaker attended an admissions presentation, gaining insight into the mental health crisis.

Admissions officers often present an idealized image of college life, potentially contributing to unrealistic expectations.

Data from the American College Health Association shows high rates of anxiety and depression among students.

The portrayal of college to prospective students is often vastly different from the actual experience.

Happiness is conceptualized as having what you want, which can be influenced by unrealistic expectations of college life.

Unrealistic expectations are a primary driver of the student mental health crisis, according to peer counseling center co-directors.

Cultural myths and media sensationalize college, leading to inflated expectations.

Students often enter college without a realistic understanding of the challenges they will face.

The happiest students have realistic expectations and coping strategies for college challenges.

It's important for students to be excited about college but also mindful of the challenges they may encounter.

The speaker suggests that colleges should be more open about the challenges students can expect.

The goal is to shift the focus from crisis management to building resilience and well-being in college students.

The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of preparing students for the realities of college life.

Transcripts

a few years ago

i attended a conference that brought

together faculty members and

administrators

from universities all over the country

and as a psychologist who works in

higher education

i was eager to attend because one of the

goals of this conference

was to see if we could gain insight into

a question

that is on the mind of every college

administrator from coast to coast

which is how can we solve the college

student mental health crisis

now just a year before this conference

took place

the chronicle of higher education

surveyed more than a hundred college

presidents

asking them to report their most

pressing concerns outside of the

classroom

and according to the chronicle 66

of these leaders identified student

mental health as the

top issue which far outweighed any of

the other concerns that made the list

and this finding is not altogether

surprising when you consider that in

recent years

the proportion of students suffering

from depression and anxiety

has been skyrocketing well on the second

day of this conference

which was being held on a beautiful

college campus on the east coast

during a week with lovely fall weather

that was sunny and warm

i decided to play a little hooky and go

for a walk outside

and as i was making my way around campus

i happened upon the admissions office

where i was told an admissions

presentation was scheduled to begin just

minutes later

so out of curiosity i joined this group

of other campus visitors

and we were led to this admissions

presentation

which just so happened to be in the

exact same building as the conference i

was attending

the admissions presentation was upstairs

the conference where i was supposed to

be was

downstairs but it turns out that by

attending this admissions presentation i

wasn't playing hooky at all

because it was there that i gained even

more insight into the college student

mental health crisis

than i did at the conference itself and

probably not for reasons the admissions

office would have expected

this admissions officer spent 45 minutes

telling us what made that institution

great

she told us all about the experiences

the students were having that were

great she shared stories of students

doing internships

and pursuing research with faculty she

told us all about the student

organizations the campus activities

the dorms the rec center the food

making quite a compelling case that

being a college student today

is great

but then i remembered the real reason i

was on campus that day

and it occurred to me that although this

admissions officer may have been telling

the truth

she wasn't telling the whole truth

because

while she was upstairs painting this

idyllic picture of the college

experience

just downstairs were hundreds of faculty

members and administrators

discussing data sets like those from the

american college health association

showing that over the last year 66

percent of students

reported feeling overwhelming anxiety

and 46 percent of students reported

feeling

so depressed they could not function

which collectively was a glaring

reminder

that the portrayals of college that are

being delivered to prospective students

and the actual lived experiences of

students

in college are often vastly different

from one another

and that stark contrast could provide

some insight

into what has been fueling the college

student mental health

crisis one of the ways that

psychologists conceptualize happiness

is with a simple formula happiness

equals

what we have divided by what we want

in other words your happiness as a

college student

is determined not only by all of the

wonderful experiences you will

have during college it's also affected

by what you

want college to be like and what you

expect

college to be like since 2014

i have been the faculty advisor for

washu's peer counseling center

and at the end of every year i ask the

undergraduate co-directors of this

organization

what they believe to be the primary

driver

of today's student mental health crisis

and reliably the one phrase that comes

up

year after year is unrealistic

expectations many students start college

without a realistic sense of what the

experience is

actually going to be like and it makes

sense why

many of these students spent the latter

half of high school

attending admissions presentations and

going on

campus tours each one with loftier

promises than the last

and those messages are compounded by the

cultural myths

that have been propagated in the movies

and on social media

and by society in general all of which

have sensationalized college

as the best four years of your life

and then those students get to college

and they face inevitable difficulties

and they compare their actual

experiences

with those lofty expectations they

developed

and very often they are left with no

other conclusion to draw

than that they are doing college

incorrectly or

even worse that they do not belong there

at

all now i certainly don't mean to pick

on my friends in admissions

or to suggest that they are doing

anything wrong or that they need to be

doing anything differently

in fact i think it's important that they

offer these presentations

to get students excited about college

but i also think it's important for

prospective students

and their families to understand that

there's more to

the story than just what you see on the

college admissions tour

or in the movies or on social media

and those other parts of the story have

got to be delivered from someone

somewhere so as a psychologist who has

spent the last decade working on a

college campus

this is my message to new students

first of all you absolutely should be

excited about all of the wonderful

experiences

and the classes and the professors and

the relationships and the adventures

that will fill the numerator of that

happiness formula

during your college years but the other

thing you should do

in the interest of your mental health

during college

is to be mindful about some of the other

expectations you are bringing with you

that could be over inflating the

denominator

of that formula because if what you want

is for college to be perfect and if you

visit a campus and you leave

believing that you have found the

perfect place and a destination where

you're going to be happy all the time

i hate to be the one to have to break

this to you but if those are your

expectations

you very likely are setting yourself up

for disappointment

and at some point you're going to end up

disillusioned

because if you're doing college

correctly there are going to be hard

times you're going to have roommate

conflicts

you're going to take classes that leave

you feeling disappointed or that you

feel are unfair

you're going to pursue extracurriculars

or internship experiences

that you have your heart set on that you

still don't get to be a part of

and that's the case no matter where you

go you're going to face adversity

but one of the things i've learned from

studying the happiness of college

students over the years

is that the happiest students aren't

happy all the time

rather the happiest students have

realistic expectations

about the challenges that are in store

for them during

college and they have thought about that

ahead of time

and they come equipped with the

strategies that will allow them to

cope effectively or at very least they

know who to turn to for help

in those moments remember

college is great but

part of what will make college great

will be the ways that you develop the

wherewithal

to overcome setbacks that come your way

so that you can stay on track toward

your dreams and aspirations

not only during college but also

throughout your life when i think back

to that conference i attended a couple

of years ago

about how to solve the college student

mental health crisis

i'm still not sure there's anyone who

has the definitive solution

but i do think that if we can be more

open and upfront

with students about the kinds of

challenges they can expect to face

during college

along with the behaviors that will

proactively contribute to their

well-being

then maybe one day when we talk about

the mental health of college students

it will be less of a crisis and instead

have more to do with their resilience

their well-being

and their flourishing thank you

[Applause]