Prioritising the mental wellbeing of university students
Data collected over a 10-year period by Discovery Health shows that depression has increased by about 120%, specifically among university students.
Picture: Pixabay
Sara-Jayne Makwala King spoke to Chief Clinical Officer at Discovery Health, Dr Noluthando Nematswerani, and Gabi Falanga, freelance writer for Discovery who’s been living with depression since university.
Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.
The transition from high school to a tertiary institution is said to be a high-risk period for the development of significant mental health problems.
Those who don’t have a strong support system or good coping skills could end up feeling depressed, anxious and dealing with various mental disorders.
"Depression held such heavy significance and meaning for me because of my family history. In my mind, the thought of being diagnosed with depression automatically meant that you were going to kill yourself... I think to a certain extent, I also resisted maybe going to find a diagnosis, because I thought that if someone tells me I have depression, this automatically means I am definitely going to commit suicide at some point, because it just had that heaviness attached to it which I found very scary..."
- Gabi Falanga, has been living with depression since university
Data collected over a 10-year period by Discovery Health shows that depression has increased by about 120% specifically among university students.
"... that is 18 to 24 years of age... this is an age group that we usually don't really focus on."
- Dr Noluthando Nematswerani, Discovery Health Chief Clinical Officer
Nematswerani says some of the mental health conditions start in high school.
"...We don't usually take notice, we ignore and we label these young ones as being stubborn, rude, being everything else, but we don't take time to sit down and understand exactly the emotions they are going through. So, you find that by the time they get to university, some of them have had some pre-existing mental health condition either undiagnosed or just ignored..."
- Dr Noluthando Nematswerani, Discovery Health Chief Clinical Officer
"It's important to differentiate between just having a hard day here and there, but if you've got persistent symptoms at least for two weeks in a row where you are just in a depressed mood, withdrawn, not enjoying going out, change in eating habits, constantly either sleeping or not sleeping, agitated, irritable... it's important for people who are close to you to pick up on those and make sure you get help as soon as possible..."
- Dr Noluthando Nematswerani, Discovery Health Chief Clinical Officer
Nematswerani says getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, doing physical activity in a safe environment, and planning well for deadlines can improve students' mental and physical health.
Scroll up to listen to the full interview.