For many people it’s hidden. Walking down the street you most likely wouldn’t notice someone with it. It’s something inside of them that can sometimes be debilitating. It’s Anxiety disorder, one of the most common mental health problems on college campuses.
Katharine Macomber, Junior Economics major at Villanova University has been struggling to deal with anxiety since the age of sixteen.
“It was junior year of high school.” Macomber said she had a more noticeable feeling of being anxious. “I would have very anxious breathing, basically caused by a lot of stress”
Macomber is only one of the millions of people who suffer from this mental health disorder. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Forty million U.S. adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, and 75 percent of them experience their first episode of anxiety by age 22.”
“It has gotten worse since I got to college.” Said Macomber “The work is more challenging on top of the added pressure of a finding a job after graduation.”
Coming to college is a like pulling the trigger on many people’s mental state. Moving away from home, away from parents, friends, what has been normal everyday for the last 18 years isn’t anymore and for most isn’t an easy feeling to embrace.
Cabrini does its best to get the word out about the counseling and physiological services offered on campus.
“With the current economic situation, students are under a lot of pressure to take college very seriously so that they can make use of their degrees when they graduate,” said Sussel. She feels as though the stress of finding a job after graduation is what most students feel anxiety about.
College students make up more than seven percent of adults suffering from anxiety, according to the National Mental Health Association website.
Like Macomber, Cabrini’s junior education major Chelsea Prichett suffers from anxiety but has had it for as long as she can remember. Coming to college for her did nothing but amplify her anxious feeling.
“Living at college was completely outside of my comfort zone. Being away from home has always been hard for me to do.” Said Prichett and living at Cabrini the first two years of college didn’t do much to help her feel less anxious.
Although there are medications that people do take for anxiety, Prichett and Macomber both choose to try to control their breathing while they have an anxious feeling.
Sussel also agrees that breathing can help control anxiety. “Breathe and come into the present moment,” said Sussel “Anxiety is anticipatory stress. It is also excitement without oxygen!”
Counseling and Psychological Services
Founder’s Hall, Room 95
610-902-8561
Fax: 610-902-8766
