Ferrara 1

Francesca Ferrara
Professor Coco
English 1001
24 November 2015
My audience is college counselors, college students, and parents of college students. I
need help with the development of the essay, transitions between paragraphs, and incorporating
my own ideas with sources.
Geauxing to Get Help
In high school, I always looked up to my little sister, Gabby, and how well she handled
her time management. She was captain of her dance team, a star on her competition dance team,
and was adored by her friends. On top of all of that, she managed to maintain a high GPA as
well. Of course I am the naturally smart sibling, but Gabby always managed to have her work
done two days ahead of time and that is what matters in the long run. My sister and I are thirteen
months apart and she is my best friend in the entire world, so when it was time for her to join me
at LSU I was over the moon.
When fall came around, she began her first semester of college, only to completely
change. At first, my family and I thought it was just a hard schedule taking a toll on her, but after
weeks of isolation and minimal functioning we became alarmed. So, we took Gaby to a
psychiatrist. After meeting with the doctor, Gabby was diagnosed with depression and
immediately put on medication. After talking to her closest friends, my mom realized that a lot of
also their kids had also experienced depression upon entering college.
I mentioned in my PLP that I developed a crippling anxiety towards writing when faced
with a more refined form of writing. So originally, I was going to explore anxiety, but I soon

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realized for this paper that was too narrow a topic. Through my initial research of a connection
between anxiety and college students, I realized all the studies and articles focused on all mental
health in college kids. So I broadened and expanded my focus by putting all mental health
illnesses under one umbrella and kept the focus on college-age kids. I thought of my sweet
sister and her frustration with her new depression. She constantly told me, I have never felt this
way Why is this happening to me all of the sudden? This lead me to a new broader inquiry
question: Why have mental health issues become so prevalent on college campuses?
I decided to stay with this topic because it is not only relevant with my family, but
nationally as well. It has become the norm to hear about campus shootings by a mentally ill
individual or to see college kids take their own lives when they feel like they have no way out.
An article titled, Im Not Your Typical Homework Stresses Me Out Kind of Girl:
Psychological Anthropology in Research on College Student Usage of Psychiatric Medications
and Mental Health Services, by Eileen P. Anderson-Fye and Jerry Floersch give an idea of the
scope of the issue, reporting that Forty percent of U.S. college students meet the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association 2000) requirements
for classification of mental illness. That is a huge proportion of college students with mental
health issues and counseling centers simply do not have the resources to deal with these large
numbers (Murray). This deficit in college counseling services is illustrated in a study by Daniel
Katz and Karen Davidson in the Community College Review which found that, Traditional
university students more frequently endorsed five different items: overwhelmed by all you had to
do, exhausted (not form physical activity), very lonely, very sad, and overwhelming anxiety
(Daniel and Davidson 2014).

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The workloads placed on college students have increased substantially in recent decades
has also given rise to overuse of prescription stimulant drugs, like Adderall of Vyvanse. CNN
published an article by Arianna Yanes that reported, Full-time college students were twice as
likely to have used Adderall non-medically as their counterparts who were not full-time students,
according to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health report released in 2009 (Yanes 2014).
The use of these drugs could be tricking universities into thinking that students are safely being
able to deal with the increase in difficulty and work, but really they are abusing stimulants to
pass the classes. Many students are also unaware that overuse of these drugs has been known to
cause depression (Yanes 2014), which could contribute to the rising number of mental health
issues.
I think that these responses show that increased academic pressure paired with adjusting
and finding their place in a completely new environment is often too much for the average
student to cope with on their own. University counseling services should be assisting students
and teaching them coping skills, but they are too overwhelmed with the number of students
needing counseling.
Through my research I have come to the discovery that lack of counseling resources to
match the increase in demand for guidance has led to a ripple effect of abuse of stimulant drugs,
and increased academic pressure are key contributors in depression and mental health in college
students. To remedy this. we must tackle the lack of service in college counseling centers first
and foremost. I think that through increased awareness about how to stay healthy and balance
your life by college counseling centers, stimulant drug abuse will decrease. After the grades of
students begin to reflect their real performance, colleges will adjust academics as well.

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Works Cited
Yanes, Arianna. "Just Say Yes? The Rise of 'Study Drugs' in College - CNN.com." CNN. Cable
News Network, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
Daniel, Seth Katz, and Karen Davison. "Community College Student Mental Health: A
Comparative Analysis." Community College Review 42.4 (2014): 307-326. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
MURRAY JR., THOMAS L. "Reclaiming The Self: A Letter To College And University
Counselors." Journal Of College Student Psychotherapy 27.1 (2013): 3-6. SocINDEX
with Full Text. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
Anderson-Fye, Eileen P., and Jerry Floersch. "'I'm Not Your Typical 'Homework Stresses Me
Out' Kind Of Girl': Psychological Anthropology In Research On College Student Usage
Of Psychiatric Medications And Mental Health Services." Ethos (00912131) 39.4 (2011):
501-521. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.