Generic placeholder image

Current Psychopharmacology

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 2211-5560
ISSN (Online): 2211-5579

Review Article

Anxiety Disorders’ Effect on College and University Students’ Mental Health: A Common and Growing Concern

Author(s): Matthew J. Pesko*

Volume 9, Issue 2, 2020

Page: [82 - 90] Pages: 9

DOI: 10.2174/2211556009999200408105509

Price: $65

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are commonly experienced by college and university students and should be routinely assessed in mental health settings. Epidemiological studies suggest that the burden of these illnesses has greatly expanded even over the past decade. Factors that contribute to the experience of an anxiety disorder in a young adult student population are considered herein. The best practice for evaluation and treatment of these disorders is presented based on the review of available literature in this field. Special attention is paid to the concept of resilience as it pertains to anxiety disorders in the student population.

Keywords: Anxiety disorders, college mental health, panic disorder, psychiatry, students, university mental health.

Graphical Abstract
[1]
Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, et al. The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. J Affect Disord 2015; 173: 90-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054] [PMID: 25462401]
[2]
American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2013.
[3]
Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-ofonset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005; 62(6): 593-602.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593] [PMID: 15939837]
[4]
Auerbach RP, Mortier P, Bruffaerts R, et al. WHO world mental health surveys interactional college student project: prevalence and distribution of mental disorders. J Abnorm Psychol 2018; 127(7): 623-38.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000362] [PMID: 30211576]
[5]
Eisenberg D, Downs MF, Golberstein E, Zivin K. Stigma and help seeking for mental health among college students. Med Care Res Rev 2009; 66(5): 522-41.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077558709335173] [PMID: 19454625]
[6]
Eisenberg D, Hunt J, Speer N, Zivin K. Mental health service utilization among college students in the United States. J Nerv Ment Dis 2011; 199(5): 301-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e3182175123] [PMID: 21543948]
[7]
Eisenberg D, Golberstein E, Gollust SE. Help-seeking and access to mental health care in a university student population. Med Care 2007; 45(7): 594-601.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e31803bb4c1] [PMID: 17571007]
[8]
Duffy ME, Twenge JM, Joiner TE. Trends in mood and anxiety symptoms and suicide-related outcomes among U.S. undergraduates, 2007-2018: evidence from two national surveys. J Adolesc Health 2019; 65(5): 590-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.04.033] [PMID: 31279724]
[9]
Oswalt SB, Lederer AM, Chestnut-Steich K, Day C, Halbritter A, Ortiz D. Trends in college students’ mental health diagnoses and utilization of services, 2009-2015. J Am Coll Health 2018; 25: 1-11.
[PMID: 30355071]
[10]
Bateson M, Brilot B, Nettle D. Anxiety: an evolutionary approach. Can J Psychiatry 2011; 56(12): 707-15.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/070674371105601202] [PMID: 22152639]
[11]
LeDoux JE, Pine DS. Using neuroscience to help understand fear and anxiety: a two-system framework. Am J Psychiatry 2016; 173(11): 1083-93.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16030353] [PMID: 27609244]
[12]
Merikangas KR, Avenevoli S, Dierker L, Grillon C. Vulnerability factors among children at risk for anxiety disorders. Biol Psychiatry 1999; 46(11): 1523-35.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(99)00172-9] [PMID: 10599480]
[13]
Meier SM, Deckert J. Genetics of anxiety disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2019; 21(3): 16.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1002-7] [PMID: 30826936]
[14]
Drake KL, Ginsburg GS. Family factors in the development, treatment, and prevention of childhood anxiety disorders. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2012; 15(2): 144-62.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0109-0] [PMID: 22241071]
[15]
Clauss JA, Blackford JU. Behavioral inhibition and risk for developing social anxiety disorder: a metaanalytic study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2012; 51(10): 1066-75.e1.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2012.08.002] [PMID: 23021481]
[16]
Troller-Renfree SV, Buzzell GA, Pine DS, Henderson HA, Fox NA. Consequences of not planning ahead: reduced proactive control moderates longitudinal relations between behavioral inhibition and anxiety. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2019; 58(8): 768-75.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.06.040] [PMID: 30768398]
[17]
Pine DS, Fox NA. Childhood antecedents and risk for adult mental disorders. Annu Rev Psychol 2015; 66: 459-85.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015038] [PMID: 25559116]
[18]
Pine DS, Cohen P, Gurley D, Brook J, Ma Y. The risk for early-adulthood anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1998; 55(1): 56-64.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.55.1.56] [PMID: 9435761]
[19]
Rith-Najarian LR, Boustani MM, Chorpita BF. A systematic review of prevention programs targeting depression, anxiety, and stress in university students. J Affect Disord 2019; 257: 568-84.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.035] [PMID: 31326690]
[20]
Luthar SS, Cicchetti D, Becker B. The construct of resilience: a critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Dev 2000; 71(3): 543-62.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00164] [PMID: 10953923]
[21]
Sroufe LA. Handbook of Attachment. 3rd ed. newyork: the guillford press 2018; 997-1011.
[22]
Holz NE, Tost H, Meyer-Lindenbert A. Resilience and the brain: a key role for regulatory circuits linked to social stress and support 2020; 25(2): 379-96.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0551-9
[23]
Carnevali L, Koenig J, Sgoifo A, Ottaviani C. Autonomic and brain morphological predictors of stress resilience. Front Neurosci 2018; 12: 228.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00228] [PMID: 29681793]
[24]
Ginsburg GS, Becker-Haimes EM, Keeton C, et al. Results from the child/adolescent anxiety multimodal extended long-term study (CAMELS): primary anxiety outcomes. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2018; 57(7): 471-80.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.03.017] [PMID: 29960692]
[25]
Chan V, Moore J, Derenne J, Fuchs DC. Transitional age youth and college mental health. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am 2019; 28(3): 363-75.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2019.02.008] [PMID: 31076114]
[26]
Pesko MJ. Student mental health: a guide for psychiatrists, psychologists, and leaders serving in higher education. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2018; pp. 165-83.
[27]
Kim HF, Schultz PE, Wilde EA, Yudofsky SC. Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th ed. Arlington: American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2008; pp. 19-72.
[28]
Boehm MA, Lei QM, Lloyd RM, Prichard JR. Depression, anxiety, and tobacco use: overlapping impediments to sleep in a national sample of college students. J Am Coll Health 2016; 64(7): 565-74.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2016.1205073] [PMID: 27347758]
[29]
Nelson JM, Liebel SW. Anxiety and depression among college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): cross-informant, sex, and subtype differences. J Am Coll Health 2018; 66(2): 123-32.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2017.1382499] [PMID: 28937938]
[30]
Haidar SA, de Vries NK, Karavetian M, El-Rassi R. Stress, anxiety, and weight gain among university and college students: a systematic review. J Acad Nutr Diet 2018; 118(2): 261-74.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2017.10.015] [PMID: 29389509]
[31]
Robinson AJ. Student mental health: a guide for psychiatrists, psychologists, and leaders serving in higher education. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2018; pp. 69-86.
[32]
Haberecht M. Student mental health: A guide for psychiatrists, psychologists, and leaders serving in higher education. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2018; pp. 355-64.
[33]
Ollendick TH, Ost LG, Reuterskiöld L, Costa N. Comorbidity in youth with specific phobias: impact of comorbidity on treatment outcome and the impact of treatment on comorbid disorders. Behav Res Ther 2010; 48(9): 827-31.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.05.024] [PMID: 20573338]
[34]
Harrer M, Adam SH, Baumeister H, et al. Internet interventions for mental health in university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 2019; 28(2): e1759.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1759] [PMID: 30585363]
[35]
Kirsch DJ, Doerfler LA, Truong D. Mental health issues among college students: who gets referred for psychopharmacology evaluation? J Am Coll Health 2015; 63(1): 50-6.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2014.960423] [PMID: 25222760]
[36]
Schwitzer AM, St. John D, Moss C, Burnett D, Foss J, Thompson L. Psychotropic medication and academic success: supportive evidence. J College Stud Psychother 2019; 1-9.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87568225.2019.1607644
[37]
Hammonds T, Rickert K, Goldstein C, et al. Adherence to antidepressant medications: a randomized controlled trial of medication reminding in college students. J Am Coll Health 2015; 63(3): 204-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2014.975716] [PMID: 25338175]
[38]
Ogbonna CI, Lembke A. Tapering patients off of benzodiazepines. Am Fam Physician 2017; 96(9): 606-10.
[PMID: 29094883]
[39]
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine The health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids: current state of evidence and recommendations for research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press 2017.

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy