Overcoming Mental Health Issues Among Students

Mental health has become an important issue that deserves special attention in the last decade. As important as global mental health problems, mental health among students also requires intensive treatment. The reason is that serious cases of mental health disorders clearly affect the quality of Indonesia’s Human Resources (HR) in the future.

 

Research on Student Mental Health

Mental health research was conducted in October 2022 as a collaborative work between The Conversation, a digital media platform, with another trusted institution. The result was 1 out of 20 Indonesian teenagers, or around 2.45 million people in the age range of 10 to 19 years, were diagnosed with a mental disorder. In addition to the previous research results, quoted from the Kemdikbud.go.id website, mental disorders often occur in the age group of 18-25 years. These findings are truly concerning because the affected age groups exactly mirror the age range of college students. 

In addition to the previous findings, it was found that 64% of the younger generation experience anxiety problems while 61.5% of them are already showing depressive symptoms. Some mental health disorders sign that is often experienced by the younger generation include excessive anxiety, impaired social interaction skills, and sleep and appetite disturbances. 

Recognizing the Importance of Students’ Mental Well-Being

As a university with the best business faculties in Indonesia, Prasetiya Mulya (Prasmul) does not only focus on developing student competencies. Beyond that, Prasmul is also consistently trying to embrace students’ mental health and well-being because a mentally healthy student will produce the following benefits:

•   Ability to focus on learning processes so that they have the ability to achieve good academic performance.
•   An increase in concentration and productivity during activities on campus and off campus.
•   Healthy relationships with fellow students, lecturers, and campus staff.
•   Good resilience to overcome challenges and adapt more easily to new environments, especially when entering the world of work.

 

Tips for Students to Take Good Care of Their Mental Health on Campus

Prasmul recommends the following effective tips for students to look after their mental health: 

1. Learn to manage time effectively

Being able to manage time well is especially important in the process of taking care of mental health.

Allocate and distribute approximately the same amount of time for campus activities, assignments completion, and other non-academic activities. Do not have too many things on your plate as they might cause an over-stressed situation. Enjoying fun time outside of college activities is certainly as important as reaching academic achievements.

2. Take good care of your physical health

Physical health is closely related to mental health. An unfit physical condition will result in a greater chance of mental fatigue and stress. Therefore, every Prasmulyan should consistently adopt a healthy lifestyle to maintain physical health. Make sure you consume an abundant amount of nutritious food, exercise regularly, and have adequate rest to be more energetic.  In return for adopting a healthy lifestyle, Prasmulyans will have a more stable mental condition. 

3. Socialize and build relationships through student associations

Despite its fine reputation as a university with the best business management study program in Indonesia, Prasmul still constantly continues to create innovations that are students oriented; one of which is through the existence of various student associations. The presence of these associations is to provide the perfect melting pot for students to socialize, establish relationships with many new acquaintances, and realize ideas in a positive way.

4. Seek counseling if needed

Prasmul also provides counseling services that allow students to discuss non-academic matters. Prasmul’s counseling services are to help overcome personal and social problems that might affect students’ learning process. These services include referred, group, walk-in, and online counseling services. Apart from seeking counseling for help, students should also set realistic expectations and personal targets.

5. Spend and enjoy some “me time”

Mental health is closely related to giving yourself enough time to enjoy yourself. Therefore, Prasmulyans are strongly suggested to always spend some “me time” regularly so that they are more relaxed and able to avoid stress. Remember to optimally utilize your “me time” to pursue hobbies or other fun leisure activities. 

Students’ mental stability is one of the main essential elements to improve the quality of the young generation. Hopefully, Prasmul’s efforts in supporting Prasmulyans’ mental health will inspire others to do the same.