Coping on Campus: Mental Health and the University Student

In the midst of a mental health epidemic among college students, Doris Iarovici explains why this is happening now and what we can do about it.

College student mental health has been in decline since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which then led to a doubling of incidences of youth anxiety and depression symptoms. The past decade’s breakneck rate of technological change--with the widespread adoption of virtual classrooms, smartphones, AI, and social media--has led to new mental health challenges as well as novel opportunities for treatment.

In Mental Health and the University Student, Doris Iarovici, MD, discusses students’ lifestyle issues and psychiatric concerns using case vignettes to explore a variety of interventions related to substance abuse, relationship difficulties, eating disorders, sleep issues, depression and anxiety, and perfectionism. Included is a guide to making emergency assessments, from risk classification and hospitalization to public safety and communication within and outside the campus community.

This revised and updated guide covers a multitude of changes across today’s college campuses. Gen Z students bring new dynamics to campus and mental health treatment, and more students identify as non-binary or gender diverse. New chapters tackle the virtual campus, the mental health challenges of student-athletes, and the effects of trigger warnings, cancel culture, and free speech debates on campus. The legalization of cannabis in many states, new drug delivery systems such as vaping devices, and a growing interest in psychedelics have changed the landscape of substance use disorder treatment. Models of care have undergone dramatic shifts, including a pivot to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, new hybrid treatment models, app-based approaches, and stepped care models.

Doris Iarovici, MD (BOSTON, MA), provides psychiatric care to college students at Harvard University’s Counseling and Mental Health Service. She was previously a psychiatrist at Duke University, in private practice, and at a residential eating disorders treatment program. Her essays about college mental health have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Psychiatric Times, and elsewhere.