College should be a joyous time in a student’s life. With every passing semester, you’re increasing your expertise in your favorite subject, making plenty of friends on campus, and starting to build a professional network that will serve you for years to come. However, many students become disengaged and disinterested in their education while they’re completing their degree—even if they still care about the subject matter. This is usually due to stress or anxiety over the pressure to perform well in school, leading to detachment.
Highlighting the importance of psychology and mental health to your success as a student should be a top priority for any educational institution, yet many students remain unaware of the on-campus support services that exist—meaning quick intervention doesn’t always happen and students don’t receive the care they need. Being aware of psychological insights, including how your mental health affects your education and where to turn for resources, can be transformative for students who are starting to struggle and need a little extra help.
Understanding psychology in education
While college can be a lot of fun, it’s also a time when you are likely to feel stressed and overwhelmed. Before you dismiss stress as a normal part of the college experience, it’s worth learning more about the impact of psychology on education. This will help more students advocate for themselves and, according to an article from Wrexham University, can also help institutions and educators:
- Identify how stress impacts different students
- Analyze and revise teaching methods based on psychological principles
- Address and overcome learning barriers
- Improve lesson planning based on the needs of the classroom
- Find ways to help individuals with learning challenges like dyslexia or ADHD
- Understand how socioeconomic status, culture, and other factors affect education and mental health
Learning from well-established psychological principles in education makes for more effective learning. This is crucial for students who feel burnt out and disenfranchised. Personal psychology knowledge (like understanding how poor diet and lack of sleep can impact your mental state) can help you utilize everyday tips to boost your mental health.
Mental health in college
On-campus mental health challenges are common for students who have recently left home to earn their degree, including depression, anxiety, stress, self-harm and suicide, and substance abuse and addiction. Recognizing the signs of these stressors is just as important as writing a perfect five-paragraph essay or giving feedback after a test. If you or a peer starts to display signs of mood swings, physical changes, or sudden shifts in behavior, you may want to visit your university’s mental health center. This is particularly important if circumstances like academic pressure, relationship changes, grief, conflict with friends, or difficulty with class or activities are involved.
In addition to utilizing campus resources and referring to professionals who have been trained to recognize and treat conditions, making positive independent changes can also meaningfully improve your mental health and help you manage stress during the semester. Students can find many ways to cope through self-care, including:
- Opening up to trusted peers and family members
- Making healthy meals
- Getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night
- Volunteering or joining a club
- Enjoying a relaxing night in
Related: A General Guide to Mental Health Awareness for Students
Recognizing signs of stress
Chronic stress can quickly turn into more serious mental health conditions if students don’t learn how to manage the pressure they feel in college. Left unchecked, this can take the form of panic or anxiety attacks, depressive episodes, binges, or other harmful behaviors and side effects. It may be impossible to address the root cause of stress while in college, but that doesn’t mean calls for help should be overlooked.
Anxiety and panic attacks
Learn the signs of an anxiety attack if you feel your stress building. Anxiety attacks are usually acute episodes with symptoms ranging from churning in your stomach to full-blown, body-shaking panic. While a little anxiety isn’t the end of the world, panic attacks typically require intervention and treatment, as frequent attacks can derail a student’s ability to participate in classes and everyday life. Signs and symptoms that indicate you may be having a panic attack include:
- Feelings of fear
- Trembling, shaking, or tremors
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Pounding heart
- Shortness of breath
- Tightness in your chest
If you’re having panic attacks, you should refer to your on-campus health services. They will be able to recommend treatment plans ranging from therapy to medication. Students who experience these conditions should also find mental health care by contacting their primary care doctors for remote assistance, contacting on-campus support officers, and seeking crisis intervention services as needed. These support services are designed to help students navigate the symptoms of various mental health conditions, so there’s aid for you even if you aren’t entirely sure what’s wrong but know you’re not feeling right. This can be transformative if you find your grades or general well-being are being hampered by stress.
Related: 8 Healthy Stress Management Tips for Students
Psychology plays a pivotal role in your education, especially as stress and anxiety are often overlooked as being a “normal” part of college life. Rather than ignoring issues like burnout, depression, or panic attacks, you can learn to understand the role of mental health in your learning. This will empower you to make timely interventions for yourself and your peers and ensure you access the resources you need to get past the hard times and thrive.
When stress and anxiety start to build up, it can be easy to feel like you’re in it alone. For solidarity and resources, check out our mental health review survey to see just how much your peers understand how you feel. And if you’re in distress or just need someone to talk to, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988—it’s free and confidential.
