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 * DEPRESSION IN COLLEGE STUDENTS**

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=132934543&m=132992519
 * Researchers say severe mental illness is more common among college students than it was a decade ago, with most young people seeking treatment for depression and anxiety. A study presented at the American Psychological Association found that the number of students on psychiatric medicines increased more than 10 percentage points over the last 10 years.**

"Mental illness is absolutely going off the charts on college campuses," says Hara Marano, who prepared the report for a May newsletter published in association with //__Psychology__// //__Today__//. "College counseling centers used to be the backwaters of the mental health care system. Now they are the front line." Students may run into trouble, Marano says, if they attempt to go off their medication. "They think once they are out of the house that made them go crazy, they will be fine." Or, she says, they stop their pills in favor of alcohol or drugs, both of which can be associated with depression. In the past, unmedicated students with dramatic problems would not have made it into college or could not have stayed there, Gallagher notes. Other factors experts say are increasingly at play: Marano notes that going home for the summer can be another traumatic time for students. They return to the place they perceive to be causing them problems. Often before leaving school they will have stopped for a tune-up. "They will first go to a counseling center to get taken care of." http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/mental/2002-05-22-college-depression.htm
 * College students are the focus of negative headlines about everything from binge drinking to campus crime. Now a new concern may dwarf the earlier crises: an alarming increase in cases of mental illness on college campuses.**
 * Family dysfunction at home. "Parental drug and alcohol use and the reduced presence of adults in the home" contribute, Gallagher says. Sexual and physical abuse "definitely predisposes the likelihood of depression," Marano says. Students also may lack the social and emotional skills that a supportive family base provides.
 * A college population that now parallels the general population. "College is no longer an elite place," Marano says. "College populations are more like real life."
 * A group vulnerable to mental illnesses from depression to anxiety disorders. The ages of 18-25 are the prime time for serious conditions to emerge, Gallagher says.
 * An increasingly complex and competitive world. "In the very high-pressure schools, there seem to be more student suicides," says Gallagher, although they are still quite rare.
 * The increasing availability of psychiatric services at colleges. Counseling may be free. "It is a good place to get diagnosed and treated," Marano says, and the stigma against mental illness, while still strong, is weakening a bit.

http://www.theaggie.org/2012/03/07/depression-in-college-students-knowledge-is-power/
 * Seeing depression in yourself can sometimes be difficult. Thus, friends can often be a student’s best support system.**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4RZyS-89eo&feature=related
 * The girl in this video gives a good description of how college students are effected by the negative effects of depression**
 * "I KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME, WHY CAN'T I FIX IT?"**


 * After watching the documentary //Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead// I began to wonder if the amount of students in my hallway prescribed to anti-depressants could somehow correlate with the terrible eating habits these students had developed in college. It seemed like everyone was always feeling down and sick, sleeping for longer hours, and eating cheap, greasy, salty food mixed with alcohol. Not only was depression a side-affect of eating so poorly, but migraines and irregular heartbeats became an issue. I would like to connect possible choices students make that invite these depressive symptoms.**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5vfoUVY4-4&feature=related
 * Food and Mood: How Diet Affects Depression (Mental Health Guru)**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYRYp99MnI
 * JUNK FOOD AND DEPRESSION CONNECTED: BAD MOODS AND BAD FOODS**

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/diet/2002-01-10-college-eating.htm
 * Most students don't gain the much ballyhooed "freshman 15," but college men gained an average of 5.5 pounds their freshman year, and college women gained an average 4.5 pounds.
 * 66% of freshmen don't consume the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
 * 50% of all students don't get enough fiber (25 grams a day).
 * 60% eat too much artery-clogging saturated fat.
 * 30% of women don't get enough calcium.
 * 59% say they know their diet has gone downhill since they went to college.