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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Paola Payan

University of El Paso Texas

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Why is important talk about mental health during in this time? Because depression is a

disease. Mental health is the overall issue of how people feel. People can have good or bad

mental health Covid-19 is an infectious disease; that is Covid-19 causes people to stay at home

and close schools, works, restaurants. People need to continue with their lives and works but in a

virtual way for their confinement at home. People were stuck inside their homes which caused

damage to their mental health; but what is mental health? Mental Health is a definition of

emotional changes that a person has. Mental health includes all social, Laboral, and studied when

a person feels uncomfortable with. Mental health is a change of emotion.

Mental health deceases when people are in quarantine. According to the Anxiety and

Depression Association of America, 40 million people suffered mental health issues during the

last year and this year. There exists all causes of this disease because people were in lockdown

for a long time. Students going to school during the pandemic had to adapt to classes and with

class work. According with JMIR, “Of the 195 students, 138 (71%) indicated increased stress

and anxiety due to the COVID-19 outbreak. These included fear and worry about their own

health and of their loved ones (177/195, 91% reported negative impacts of the pandemic),

difficulty in concentrating (173/195, 89%), disruptions to sleeping patterns (168/195, 86%),

decreased social interactions due to physical distancing (167/195, 86%), and increased concerns

on academic performance (159/195, 82%).”138 (71%) indicated that their stress and anxiety had

increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 10 (5%) used mental health counseling

services.”

Why do mental health issues affect students during Covid-19?

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Mental health issues affect students’ lives, reducing their quality of life, academic

achievement, physical health, and satisfaction with the college experience, and negatively

impacts relationships with friends and family members. During the Covid-19 pandemic, mental

health issues affect students because they spend a lot of time on the internet and they depend a

lot on technology to keep in touch with friends. Mental health affects more collage students

because they are worried about their grades, money, and social life.

Mental health issues include depression, anxiety, stress, affects relationships, anger, etc.

Those are some of effects of declining mental health. But why does it affects students? It affects

students because they were in home as example stress is for school cause they need to turn

homework, projects etc., and sometimes is hard understand virtual classes. According with JMIR

some students keep thinking about their families and how the pandemic affects them. (177/195,

91%) indicated that COVID-19 increased the level of fear and worry about their own health and

the health of their loved ones. For some students paying attention during virtual classes is hard

because they can’t concentrate. The majority of college students (173/195, 89%) indicated

difficulty in concentrating on academic work due to various sources of distraction.

More than half of the participants (115/195, 59%) expressed their concerns about their

financial situations being impacted by COVID-19. Some college students suffer for financial

issues because their jobs were closed, and they were unemployed people it was hard for them

and for their families. Depressive thoughts, 44% (86/195) mentioned that they were experiencing

some depressive thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the depressive thoughts

were about what happen in the future if they had Covid-19.These studies were for collage

students of Covid-19 issues.

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

What are the causes and consequences of mental health in students?

Some causes of mental health issues are that students feel pressure to succeed

academically during college. According with many studies “students may overwork themselves

and neglect their own well-being, especially if they procrastinate on assignments. Procrastination

itself can be a coping mechanism for anxiety about grades.” Students feel worried for their future

in college as the light program mentioned, “Students may also be pressured to look to the future

and decide on a career path. They may feel the need to obtain full-time employment right after

graduation because they have invested so much time and money into their degree.” Increased

Technology and Social Media use during these times social media were used with more

frequency because people are online a lot of time and participate in cyberbullying. Students

today spend a lot time online and it is tool to them with communication but also affects mentals

health in students because some of them suffer of cyberbullying with comments or massages.

Some messages that people received is about negative things and it makes that students feel more

stress or feel in depression

During the pandemic for students was hard keep communication with their classmates or

for their friends. Students suffer because of the internet connection with technical issues that it

contains. The communication of teachers and students is harder because is not the same and also

is harder to concentrate during class because people are in home. Also is hard to understand

classes because you need communicate with people and it make easier understand that.

One cause of mental health issues, and the most recognized, are the deaths during the

Covid-19. A lot of people lost family members, friends, and people around them; these losses
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Students Mental Health During Covid 19
cause depression and anxiety. Also, some of mental health patients are victims of violence and

they need stay in their home with their aggressor. When a victim of home violence or abuse stays

with their aggressor, it affects a lot in their mind. Studies of mental health state that, “violence

women with mental health problems are more likely to be domestically abused, with 30-60% of

women with a mental health problem having experienced domestic violence.” The victims can be

students that sometimes are abused or sometimes live in a home with violence. Violence causes

depression and psychological damages. Also, when victims of some abuse in the family the

unique security place was school and in home was hard continue with their life. Look for a good

place to find help and support against to violence.

The consequences of mental health are stress, anxiety, sleep difficulties, depression,

suicide and suicidal thoughts; and they can affect the larger campus community. Stress is the

body’s reactions to pressure and many different situations that cause stress or when people have

a new experience, unexpected or that threatens our sense of self, or when people feel have little

control over a situation. Anxiety is fear and is the reaction to stress apprehension about what’s to

come. During the they feeling fear with a lot of information of quarantine people suffer a lot of

anxiety attacks because they feel fear for the future. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or

a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. People find a refuge in depression special when

they lost a familiar member, friends, and people around them. It can lead to a variety of

emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home

at school. Sleep problems make that people feel tired and angry and id because they have a lot of

concerns about school, work, And families.

Suicide and suicidal thoughts is important to detect because this most of the worst

consequences about mental health. According with OMS, “Suicide is determined by the
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Students Mental Health During Covid 19
interaction between psychosocial, biological and psychiatric factors. In America, 65,000

people die from suicide every year. 90% of suicidal victims have a diagnosable mental

disorder.” According with Marcia Purse some signs of suicide “ include isolating

yourself from your loved ones, feeling hopeless or trapped, talking about death or suicide,

giving away possessions, an increase in substance use or misuse, increased mood swings,

anger, rage, and/or irritability, engaging in risk-taking behavior like using drugs or

having unprotected sex, accessing the means to kill yourself, such as medication, drugs,

or a firearm, acting as if you're saying goodbye to people, and feeling extremely

anxious.” The suicide never is going to be a good option to run way of the problem find a

solution.

How to prevent mental health issues in students?

First is important that we can detect emotional symptoms like changes in mood, erratic

thinking, chronic anxiety, exaggerated sense of self-worth, and impulsive action. First value

yourself; it means that you can see your good things of you and respect yourself and make

time for your homies. Take care of your body which means eat nutritious food, drink water, and

exercise which helps decrease depression and anxiety and improve moods, and get enough sleep.

Researchers believe that lack of sleep contributes to a high rate of depression in college students.

Surround yourself with good people which means people with strong family or social

connections are generally healthier than those who lack a support network. Learn how to deal

with stress which means do things that can you can feel relaxed like; pray, do meditation,

exercise, take a nature walk, play with your pet or try journal writing as a stress reducer. These

things make that people feel that people don’t feel stress and find good things to entertainment

and find a good refuge place that is not depression.

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Also, remember to smile and see the humor in life, life has good and beautiful things that

you can find to feel happy. Research shows that laughter can boost your immune system, ease

pain, relax your body and reduce stress. In focus on your goals and your virtues. Always look for

help and you never be alone. Keep good communication with parents, family and friends. Look

for ways keep your mind busy and forget negative things. Always contact with professional

people that know about it and try to help. It is always a good idea to visit a psychologist that can

help and remember you are not alone. Remember that life is going to be different before and

after the pandemic. Pandemic changes everything in people’s lives but you need to learn about it

and look for help and support. As students a good way to find support is talk with parents and

friends, teachers is more hard the communication but also is more easy find help.
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Students Mental Health During Covid 19

Works cited

“What Is Mental Health?.” https://espanol.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-

mental-health.

“How to Help Teens Cope During the Pandemic”

https://www.childrenscolorado.org/conditions-and-advice/parenting/parenting-

articles/teen-tips-coronavirus/.

https://www.betterhelp.com/helpme/

J Med Internet Res. “Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in

the United States: Interview Survey Study”2020 Sep

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7473764/

The Light Program.”The Mental Health Crisis Among College Students and What

We Can Do About It” Jul 22, 2020. https://thelightprogram.pyramidhealthcarepa.com/the-

college-student-mental-health-crisis/.

“Mental Health Problem Symptoms, Causes and Effects”.

https://www.psychguides.com/mental-health-disorders/.

ONS. (2014). Intimate Personal Violence and Partner Abuse. Retrieved from

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinen

glandandwales/yearendingmarch2017 [Accessed 12/03/18].

Walby, S. (2004). The Cost of Domestic Violence. Research Summary: Women

& Equality Unit. Retrieved from paladinservice.co.uk/wp-

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19
content/uploads/2013/07/cost_of_dv_research_summary-Walby-2004.pdf [Accessed

29/02/16].

Howard, L.M., Trevillion, K., Khalifeh, H., Woodall, A., AgnewDavies, R., &

Feder, G. (2009). Domestic violence and severe psychiatric disorders: Prevalence and

interventions. Psychological Medicine, 40(6), 881–893.

Trevillion, K., Oram, S., Feder, G., & Howard, L.M. (2012). Experiences of

domestic violence and mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS

One, 7, e51740.

Gilbert, R., Kemp, A., Thoburn, J., Sidebotham, P., Radford, L., Glaser, D., &

MacMillan, H. (2009). Recognising and responding to child maltreatment. The Lancet,

373(9658), 167–180.

“Stress”. 26 March 2021. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/.

Purse, Marcia. “What Is Suicidal Ideation? A Look at Dangerous Thought

Patterns.” March 25, 2020. https://www.verywellmind.com/suicidal-ideation-380609.

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Students Mental Health During Covid 19