Dr. Nic Hooper(And Students!)

Coping with University Life

The Ubiquity of Suffering

People often assume that struggling with a psychological issue is rare

In some cultures, having ‘Mental Health Problems’ is seen as a weakness

In the next 20 years this is going to change

Because psychological suffering is so common that it will soon be considered normal

Prevalence National Institute of Mental Health

An estimated 22.1% of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year (this figure translates to 46.4 million people)

4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders - major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Mood disorders cost U.S. employers 16 billion dollars in lost work time annually.

More than 29% experience sufficient symptoms within last 12 months to qualified for at least one pscyhiatric diagnosis

Over 90 percent of suicide victims have a diagnosable mental disorder

Suicide Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention

It appears as though it is a relatively rare evento There are 11 deaths by suicide per 100.000

people (1 %)

However according to Chiles and Strosahl (2005)o 20% of community sample reported a two week

period of serious suicidalityo 20% had the ideation but not specific plan

Count that out. Over 1 in 3 people will give suicide serious thought at one point in their lives. How many people are in this room?

Specific figures Approximately 9.5% of the population aged 18 and

older have a depressive disorder in a given year. Anxiety has a lifetime prevelance rate of 25.1 % Approx 1 in 18 (or 5.55% or 15.1 million people) in USA

are addicted to alcohol Approx 1 in 68 (or 1.47% or 4 million people) in USA are

addicted to drugs Eating disorders - It is estimated that 8 million

Americans have an eating disorder How about;

Relationships problemsAnger issuesMild sadnessAddiction to smoking/gamblingStressDieting issuesSleeping issues

And Students?Many believe that University is a time when you can be

very happy, and drink, and go to parties and generally have a stress free and fun life

And this is true at times! But you're human beings too. Sometimes being a student is more stressful than outside life. According to the Guardian (2008)The proportion of students with serious and severe mental

illness has risen substantially over the last few years.30%-50% of students suffer from varying levels of anxiety

and depression.53% of students had anxiety at a ‘pathological’ level.

The bottom line is that University is stressful. And being stressed, just like those other disorders, is a very normal thing to feel!

I asked my 4th year Psychology students to detail the things that have caused them stress over the past 4 years

They came up with the following:

Reasons for stress

The heavy workload

Relationships with friends

Reasons for stress

Boyfriend/Girlfriend issues

Financial problems

Speaking and understanding English

Reasons for stress

And Students (continued)I also asked my students to rate the level of stress

in the average University week that they had felt over the past 4 years. They put it at 7.33 out of 10.

They also indicated that they had felt severe stress 5.55 times on the following scaleNever 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Always

Its seems as though being at University holds not only good times, but stressful times too!

What were your scores?

And so here we are…..

We know that psychological suffering is normal in human beings

We know that students are human beings

We know that students have many stressors

Therefore it seems to make sense that students may suffer psychologically every now and then

So what do we do about it?!Over the next 20 minutes we are going to go

through various pieces of advice that may help you manage stressors! Firstly, I'm going to speak about a powerful but

mostly unknown psychological principleSecondly, Nihan is going to talk about the sort of

advice the 4th year students wish they would have had themselves when they began University

Thirdly, Ates is going to talk about tips for happiness from the scientific research perspective

Lastly, I’ll round up with some further pointsSo here goes!

Our minds – are they good for us?

Of course they are!They help us in all sorts of ways every day. Without

them we couldn’t read, problem solve, communicate, plan or generally be.

Indeed it is our minds that have allowed us to be the predominant species on the planet despite being weak, slow and poorly defended

But the mind is a muscle like any other. Sometimes it can be unhelpful, let me give you a few

examplesRecently psychotherapy has sort to distinguish the

relationship between mind and actionWe seem to have come to the conclusion that we

have to act on what our mind saysHowever we don’t. Lets elaborate our examples!

Advice from fellow studentsAdvice from fellow students• Know the structure of the University well• i.e. know the rules and regulations that may

help you get a better grade• Try all activities to develop hobbies. These will

keep you going in times of boredom• Especially do this in the first 2 years of your

degrees because after that life is going to be busy!

Advice from fellow students….Advice from fellow students….• Learn the content of the courses you

will take in the following semester• You're more likely to do well in

subjects you're interested in

• Research the sort of career you would like• This will give you the direction you

need in the 4th year

• Create leisure time for yourself and stay away from studying in that period• Focus on what you want to do to feel

relaxed

Happiness from a Research Perspective

The following activities are highly correlated with happiness (of course there are large individual differences across these domains)Sleeping wellExercising frequentlySpending time with the people that are

important to youEating healthilyFollowing a chosen career pathDoing novel spontaneous acts to keep things

interestingActing according to ones values

Other bits of adviceExpect to be unhappy, stressed and anxious

sometimes. Feelings come and go like the clouds, they're normal. Be willing to feel those things and control your actions

Be there for each other. Those who live the most stress free lives are those with large social networks i.e. friends. You all are the biggest allies to each other that you can have here on campus.

Be patient and compassionate with others and yourself. Try to understand all actions in relation to the wider context.

Live in the present moment. Too many of us are affected by the past or worrying about the future. When we do that we lose touch with the richness that is around us right now. These may be the best years of your life.

Other bits of advice (continued)

Keep in contact with your values. At times University is tough, but if you value your education and career then that value will be your guidepost when your feeling down

Hold stories about yourself lightly. Sometimes they can get in the way of you acting in a value consistent manner

Don’t get involved in needless stress. Create a context where stress is less likely to occur i.e. get to class on time, don’t cheat on your boyfriend with his best friend, use protection, don’t leave everything till the last minute etc

And the advice lecturers may not want you to hear!

Lecturers are people too. And these are the people that mark your work. Manipulate them. Success is more positively correlated with good interpersonal skills than it is with intelligence.

Play the game. We all come to university with big ideas of being enlightened but this isn’t reality. Make decisions based on passing the course. Spend more time on the things that are marked. If this means missing lessons then miss the lessons

Extra reading. Forget about it unless you know the course material well.

Thank you for listening

If you ever feel that you're the only person in the world who gets stressed, depressed, anxious etc.

Then look around you and count every third person. They have experienced such pain that they

have had thoughts of taking their own lives.

What's more is that if you walked up to that person and asked them ‘are you ok?’ They would probably

say ‘fine’.

We live in a world where we know that’s what people want to hear