Penn State students seeking on-campus counseling for mental health problems may be unaware they are also helping others by anonymously participating in one of the largest collaborative research efforts ever created.
Penn State is leading 66 schools in analyzing data from more than 28,000 counseled students, trying to assess mental health at universities nationwide and create a long-term strategy to provide better treatment.
The ongoing study collects medical data from students seeking mental help from university counselors or programs. The data is then combined with that of other schools and evaluated to seek probable sources for mental health issues among students.
According to the 2009 executive summary of the ongoing study, it has identified a link between suicidal thoughts and lowered GPAs. The average GPA for students who have never considered suicide is 3.12, whereas the average for students who have attempted suicide in the past is 2.98, according to the summary.
Students such as Steffany Crossley (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) say they are glad to see Penn State is taking an active role in learning how to better assess mental health.
"In college, we are taken away from our family and the people we count on to help us when we are stressed," Crossley said. "This is a transition period in our lives, and we are put under a lot of stress, which may explain why mental health problems are rising among college-aged students."
Penn State Assistant Director for Counseling and Psychological Services Ben Locke, also the executive director for the study, said this effort has been a five-year pilot study, drawing data from hundreds of Penn State students.
However, he stressed that the participants remain anonymous and that the collected data represents troubled students, not the student body at large.
"This is hard data. If people are truly concerned, we need to be proactive and find data, because opinion is not enough," Locke said.
The mental health issues studied include eating disorders, anxiety, substance abuse and depression, Locke said.
"By collecting a variety of data from many schools, we can improve counseling by catering to students and by simply being adequately equipped with knowledge," Locke said.
Even though the study is a pilot case, it still gives health providers a glimpse at what may be contributing to the rise of mental health problems on campus, Locke said. And there's no better place than Penn State, with its huge need for effective counseling, to gather research data, Crossley said.
"Mental problems like depression and eating disorders isn't something that's frequently spoken about among friends, which is why students rely so much on health providers," Crossley said. "If those health providers have better data and information to work off of, then they can help us more."
