a study A 2021 survey by the American Society of Clinical Pharmacy found that medication use by college students has nearly doubled across all medications.
The study found that use of antidepressants increased from 8% in 2007 to 15% in 2018-19. Use of anti-anxiety medications increased from 3% to 7.6%, while use of mood stabilisers increased from 0.8% to 2%.
The survey also found that the number of students prescribed psychiatric medications by their doctor has increased by about 20% since 2007. Use of non-prescription psychiatric medications decreased from 11.9% in 2007 to 7.7% in 2018-2019.
According to Jessica Cici: According to the medical director of child and adolescent psychiatry at M Health Fairview, young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are most likely to develop depression, and there are multiple reasons why they seek medication treatment.
“Just think about the impact the pandemic has had on young people and the circumstances they have to live through,” Sisi said. “I think there was just a lot of fear and uncertainty about the future.”
Sisi said issues such as racial inequality and climate change had a major impact on young people who were worried about their futures.
Luke Wittner, a fourth-year student, said he began looking for medication in fall 2020 for anxiety and depression.
“I didn’t want to start taking medication, but nothing else was working and it was my last resort to try to cure this disease,” Wittner said.
Wittner has changed medications four times in the past four years in an attempt to find one that works for her.
“Every medication I’ve ever taken has worked for me. I’m just looking for the medication with the fewest side effects,” Wittner said.
Cici said some people are hesitant to take the medication because they’re worried about side effects and whether they can tolerate them.
“Under close medical supervision, the drug is very safe,” Sisi said. “The most common side effects are headache and abdominal pain, but these usually subside within about two weeks.”
Sisi said health care providers will also be on the lookout for increased suicidal tendencies, which occur in fewer than 2 percent of people taking psychiatric medications.
“Since I started taking the medication, I’ve felt a lot less mentally confused,” Wittner said. “I think it’s helped a lot. If you saw me four months ago, I would have been sobbing right now.”
Cecelia Bloomquist, a psychotherapist at Boynton Health, said the stigma surrounding mental health is a barrier to care.
“I think a lot of people don’t get treatment or avoid treatment because they’re afraid of how it will make them look or feel,” Bloomquist says. “They’re especially worried about how people will judge them if they receive a mental illness diagnosis.”
Bloomquist said 27.6% of college students currently report taking medication for mental illness, up from 12.6% in 2015, according to Boynton’s College Student Health Survey.
“People are realizing that depression isn’t what it used to be, and that there are treatments available,” Bloomquist says. “Awareness is increasing, and more people are seeking treatment.”
Bloomquist said he tries to talk to patients to gain insight into how knowing and acknowledging what is going on can help them make sense of their experiences.
Cici said depression and anxiety are medical illnesses and there are many different ways to treat them.
“This is a disease of one of the organs in the body – the brain,” Sisi said. “High blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes are medical diseases that are treated to affect organs in the body.”
Third-grader Ashley Sudeta said she had been taking medication for mental health reasons but stopped taking it because she wasn’t seeing any changes.
“I never felt like I was different, and my mother thinks it made things worse,” Sudeta said. “It didn’t really do me any good.”
Sudeta said she had experienced sporadically bouts of depression throughout her life and had begun taking medication for her mental health.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had a bad experience with medication. It’s been more of a neutral experience,” Sudeta said. “Don’t give up just because it doesn’t work for you. Different medications work for different people.”
After Sudeta began treatment and stopped taking medication, she became more active in campus activities.
“Interacting with others and talking to a therapist instead of hiding my problems has helped me a lot,” Sudeta said.
Sisi said one of the challenges remaining in the current state of mental health treatment is that antidepressants do not work for everyone.
“As we continue to make scientific advances to understand the neurobiology of these diseases, we will develop better targeted drugs and treatments that can lead to improvement,” Sisi said.
Mental health services are available at the following locations: Boynton Health and Student counselling services.
