top me if you’ve heard this one before: “College years are the best years of your life. Ah, you students have it easy, all you have to do is turn up for a few classes and spend the rest of your time partying at the taxpayer’s expense. Sure what worries could you lot possibly have? Wait until you go out into the real world, then you’ll know all about real stress.”
If you’re only starting your third level adventure this month, you’ll have to get used to hearing that kind of pep-talk on a regular basis. But how true is it? Is college life really all peaches and cream? Is everything fine and dandy on campus? Not according to Sarah McEvoy, the Student Welfare officer at NUI Maynooth, who believes that the media play a huge part in promoting a false view of student life.
“My personal opinion is that the media in general seem to see students as money-grabbing people who drink too much, cause trouble, attend festivals, spend too much and go around with ipods and laptops having a great time,” she says. “Not that this isn’t true for many students – but there are also a large number of students who are dealing with major issues such as eating disorders, anxiety, stress and depression.”
This view is echoed by Róisín McGrogan, the Welfare Officer at NUI Galway. “Mental health is the key issue for students today,” she believes. “A new environment, being away from home and the associated support, academic pressure, added responsibility and financial difficulty combine to make the transition to college or even the survival in college very difficult for some students.”
It is a time of huge change and disruption – and McGrogan maintains that a student’s efforts to adapt to their new environment can sometimes lead to unexpected personal problems.
“It is important to stress that students identify what relaxes them - things like substance abuse, self-harm and violence excluded - then use them as a resource when they are feeling stressed,” she says.
One of the most disturbing trends to have emerged in recent years has been the dramatic rise in the number of students suffering from eating disorders. Colin Caughey is the Student Welfare Officer at Queens University Belfast, and he is making this issue a top priority.
“We are trying to give students more information about eating disorders,” he says. “It is a problem that affects students in all universities. You can’t see it in isolation: I think the way society has developed is part of the problem. But a lot of people that might have eating problems might also have other personality problems like depression and they’re just looking for some kind of release.
“Here at Queens, we are trying to provide a support service for students,” he continues. “We are trying to provide information for them and we are also targeting their friends. We are trying to let people know that if they have an eating problem, they are simply suffering from a disease that thousands of people across the UK and Ireland also suffer from, and there is no shame in going to a University help centre or an eating disorder association. We are really trying to get the message across that there is help out there for people who are suffering.”
The stigma that is attached to certain illnesses can be a critical factor in influencing whether or not a student seeks help. Both McGrogan and McEvoy maintain that suicide is a serious problem among Irish students.
“Suicide is a big issue, and it is important to emphasise that many people are trained to talk about suicide and that the approach is non-judgmental,” says McGrogan. “If a student is having suicidal thoughts, then they need not bottle them up. Bottling things up is unhealthy to the point of being dangerous.”
“The number of students that commit suicide annually is surprisingly large,” says Sarah McEvoy. “But the subject is almost completely taboo in Irish society. The media seems to forget that, although college is definitely the ‘time of your life’, it can also be a time of isolation and loneliness.”
A lot of students turn to drinking in an attempt to become more sociable and to overcome this loneliness, but this often leads to even greater problems. Queens’ Colin Caughey feels that the notion of drinking to excess is something that is almost ingrained within students before they even start college.
“It’s a problem,” he says. “You come to university and go out two or three nights a week and get absolutely rat-arsed. It’s not even that it’s socially accepted, it’s almost like it’s socially demanded. There is a challenge to Student’s Unions to provide nights out, where you don’t have to go and get off your face to feel that you’re enjoying yourself.”