Survey of Luther College students finds typical mental health issues

A random survey of over 1,000 Luther College students has discovered the student body has mental health issues fairly typical of college students nationwide.

Luther officials have released results of the American College Health Association survey taken by Luther students and by 96,000 students nationwide.  They show Luther students are "quite comparable" to their counterparts on other campuses, according to Luther College Director of Counseling Pam Torresdal.

For instance, 90 percent of Luther students responded they had felt overwhelmed by all they had to do--at least some time during the previous 12 months.  58 percent reported feeling very lonely at least once during the past 12 months.  Depression rates were around 27 percent.

Interestingly enough, the only health issue that Luther students didn't share with their counterparts nationwide was overwhelming anger--29 percent of Luther students said they had experienced this during the past 12 months, a figure much lower than the national average.

Toerresdal says there will be "multiple ways" to use the results from the survey.  She says the results are being made available to educate students.

Torresdal says mental health issues usually have multiple causes.  Stress is often a tipping point that leads someone to seek help.  That might mean this has been a stressful year for Luther students--through spring break, the Luther Counseling Service had already seen 242 clients--already nearly as many as sought help during all of the 2009-2010 school year. 

The mental health survey results are part of a larger survey of health and wellness issues among Luther students.  The other results will be released later in the school year.

Complete mental health survey results are available at: http://www.luther.edu/counseling/?story_id=320146