Mental health

Mental Health and friendships

I see mental health as a common issue at my school. I feel a lot of people, including myself, are going through a tough transition in school. Some of us are away from our families for the first time. Others are struggling with the beginnings of adulthood. Some struggle with personal issues outside of our academic lives. It's also difficult when we have to tackle these issues alone.

"Youth is a life period where individuals experience multiple stressors due to their developmental stage, adjustment to new college environment, academic expectations, and their specific higher education program of study" (Othman, 2019). Other stressful factors may include their personal, interpersonal, family, social-economic and political factors (Othman, 2019).

Studies show that students who have previous help in counseling are more likely to seek support, and use less avoidant coping strategies. (Niegocki, 2019) Research also shows that students without previous counseling experience seek help in other ways such as emotional support from friends, and family. (Niegocki, 2019)

Friends are beneficial to our mental health, and close friendships are hard to make considering our school lacks that sense of community and belonging. I've reached out to some friends from school and spoke about mental health.



This is my friend Mario. His college experience at Cal State LA was a bit lonely at first since he was away from his friends and family for the first time. He is new to the city of LA, and comes all the way from San Diego. He eventually found a great sense of belonging at this school when he found out about the Korean club and joined. From there his experience in college improved and he felt much happier and outgoing.



This is my friend Damian. He is also from San Diego and lives in the dorms. He really did not have much friends, and was new to the area. He was fortunate to have a roommate who was a photographer and together decided to do photo shoots together. From that point on, he started to feel less homesick and felt good about his decision to live in the school dorms.

References:

Niegocki, K. L., & Ægisdóttir, S. (2019). College Students’ Coping and Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes and Intentions. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 41(2), 144–157.

Othman, N., Ahmad, F., El Morr, C., & Ritvo, P. (2019). Perceived impact of contextual determinants on depression, anxiety and stress: a survey with university students. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 13(1), N.PAG.