Twenty-two-year-old Michael knew he had a problem, he just didn't know what it was. The senior engineering student at New Mexico State University would often find himself overworked with little rest as he juggled school and a fulltime job at a local restaurant. At the end of those long days, Michael often felt overwhelmed. Even when he had time to sleep, he couldn't. The stress, he said, was getting to him, and he almost walked away from school, just a year-and-a-half before graduation. But then, months after experiencing a breakup with a girlfriend, Michael, who asked that his real name not be used, eventually sought help from an area doctor on the advice from a friend. After he was diagnosed with depression, his doctor prescribed Michael antidepressants. Since then, Michael said he has taken a new outlook on life, something he attributes to seeing a doctor. "Once I started taking (the pills), things started getting better," Michael said recently. "Personally, I blame my depression on stress." Michael's case is one familiar to college and university campuses nationwide. More and more students on most campuses are forced to work while attending school, said Pat McCoy, who has been a counselor at the NMSU Counseling Center for over 20 years. "Life is not simple for anyone," McCoy said. "But I have seen a lot change in the last 20 years as far as stress on students." A study conducted by Sherry Benton, Ph.D., a researcher at Kansas State University, found depression, grief, academic and developmental problems increased over three different time periods. The study looked at 13,257 students seeking help during the 1988-92, 1992-96 and 1996-2001 academic years. In the study, relationship problems, stress and anxiety, family issues, physical problems, personality disorders, suicidal thought and sexual assault increased over the first two time periods and leveled off from 1996-2001. Stress can lead to depression, anxiety attacks and even suicide. Benton could not be reached for comment, but in a release prepared by the American Psychological Association, the researches called for more studies on what they say is a nationwide trend. "If these observed patterns of change (are) ... consistent with those at other counseling centers, then it is evident that therapists in counseling centers are seeing students with more critical needs than a decade ago," the authors stated in the release. The study didn't include statistics after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, an event McCoy said affected many. Since that time, other terrorist attacks, prospects of war and events such as the recent loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia can wear on students. "National events are always on our minds whether we are constantly thinking about them or if they are in the back of our mind," McCoy said. "Combine it with other stress factors, and it can certainly lead to more problems." Among those experiencing stress are a high majority of freshman and new enrollees. In New Mexico, that number has been bolstered by the advent of lottery success scholarships, which provide tuition to state schools for graduates of high schools within the state. Add to that the newfound freedoms many freshmen enjoy, and today's freshman is even more vulnerable to stress. "A lot of times there is no support system," McCoy said. "Eventually there is an idea of isolation, which is where (NMSU's counseling center) can help." Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles last year conducted an annual survey of first-year, full-time college students in which 17 percent of male freshman students reported feeling overwhelmed; up from 14 percent in 1985. About 36 percent of women in the study reported feeling overwhelmed at some point in their first year in college, a sharp increase from 22 percent in 1985. The American College Health Association found in a 2001 survey that 92 percent of students felt occasionally overwhelmed. The survey of 17,000 students at 30 colleges also found 12 percent had been diagnosed with depression and similar problems. Part of that increase can be attributed to the increase in students entering college with existing mental problems. "Students that wouldn't have come to college 20 or 30 years ago are now coming to school," McCoy said. "Some who are already being treated when they come here, and some who should be receiving treatment, are now students. They wouldn't have been -- for whatever reason -- 20 years ago." The counseling center offers free, confidential treatment to students, McCoy said. Students can be treated a maximum of 30 times, but many take a "do-it-yourself" approach to mental health, McCoy said. "Normally we see more females than males, but lately we've been seeing more males," McCoy said. "Still, there are many who think they can do it themselves. Sometimes you just need someone to talk with." Michael, meanwhile, has rebounded from the depression that almost forced him to quit school and will graduate in the coming fall. He thinks many students experience similar bouts with depression as he did, but many do not seek help. "I didn't think about getting help until someone mentioned it to me," Michael said. "There's different places people can go to get help. They just have to go."
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