Chapter I

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction
Mental health issues affect many people across the world. These types of challenges are
not new and have been around for a long time. However, awareness of these issues has increased
in recent years. Depression and Anxiety are the most common types of mental disorders, and
comorbidity is also very common with these two disorders. Many individuals with anxiety also
have depression and vice versa. Many schools have implemented counseling and/or programs on
campus that are specifically designed to help to combat and address the mental health issues of
their students.
Frequently, students are struggling academically because of maladaptive coping. Some of
these struggles are: low class attendance, failing to turn in assignments, lack of focus, low quality
of work, and difficulty taking tests. Some repercussions of this are failing or withdrawing from
courses, academic probation, academic suspension, or withdrawal from schools.
As estimated by WHO, depression shall become the second largest illness in terms of
morbidity by another decade in the world, already one out of every five women, and twelve men
have depression. Not just adults, but two percent of school children, and five percent of
teenagers also suffer from depression, and these mostly go unidentified. Depression has been
the commonest reason why people come to a psychiatrist, although the common man’s
perception is that all psychological problems are depression. People still believe that it is because
of some weakness in personality, or that one can cure it by oneself, or that medication would go
lifelong and are mere sedatives.
The direct impact of failing to address society and depression can impact the students
academically, and other areas of their lives. The purpose of this study is to explore how students
cope with their lives despite having anxieties and depression, thus leading to answers that can
revolve on how they can manage to overcome these challenges. Studies done to examine
research involving how psychological distress influence on academic performance of students.
This study can be used to better inform people and provide useful insight about students
experiencing anxiety and depression symptoms.
The Effect of Anxiety and Depression to Students

Jean Charles Par Porley

Researcher

Mrs. Honorata Ricamara

Teacher