Lisa Dittrich

UWRT 1103

22 September 2019

586 Words

In any one year, five percent of adults or 48.3 million people experience a mental health

illness, and 46.4 percent of adults will experience a mental health illness during their lifetime.

Seeing the statistics, it is bound to happen that mental illness will be prevalent in higher

education settings. In a 2016 study by the Healthy Minds Network, it was found that 39 percent

of students were struggling with at least one mental health disorder. Mental health is a serious

topic in and outside of the education system, and measures need to be taken to help people and

more specifically, students, cope with mental illness. I plan to do my part in this matter by

majoring in Psychology and eventually getting a Doctorate Degree to be a Clinical Psychologist.

This topic hits home and is a very engrossing topic to me hence why I am majoring in

Psychology. I have had my fair share of mental health struggles and have seen my family

members struggle as well, so all of my background knowledge comes from experience, the

internet, or classes I have taken in psychology. Texts I have found that proves my topic is

researchable include, “Colleges Expand Their Reach to Address Mental Health Issues” from The

New Yorker, “Why Mental Health Matters” from Nature Research, and “For Students With

Mental Health Issues, Transition To College Is Complicated” from National Public Radio. To

make my research easier, I can use keywords such as mental health, mental illness, mental

disorders, anxiety disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and stress. I can also

change “higher education” to college, university, and post-secondary education. Some places I
can look for additional information and different perspectives include the Atlantic, the New York

Times, the Chronicle Of Higher Education, the New Yorker, the National Public Radio, and I

can even search on google and look for reputable sources. My topic can range from the whole

United States, or it can be as small as just UNC Charlotte. I plan to bring both small and large

scale examples and information into my proposal to connect the two scales and bring

perspective. I have thought about many more questions and topics related to my subject matter to

give it more dimension. Some of these questions and topics include, what can students do to cope

with mental illness? What can institutions do to make mental health resources accessible? What

are the most common types of disorders in college students? How do mental illnesses in higher

education compare to mental illness in the United States? Is there a difference between mental

illness in universities vs. community colleges? What causes high levels of mental illness in

higher education institutions? Are most illnesses existing or did they spur while students were in

college? Mental illness is a very serious subject and is getting to be a less taboo subject to talk

about but, more information and education need to be spread so that the right treatments can be

provided, and people can feel more comfortable to seek help. This can help the UNC Charlotte

community by helping students who struggle from mental illness or even just stress that they are

not alone and there are measures that they can take to receive help. In doing this students may

drop out of school less, get better scores, absorb more information in class, have a better

takeaway from higher education, and just have a better well being in general.