Tips For Taking Care Of Your Mental Health At College

Many people carry mental health issues with them onto campus when they leave home for the first time to go to college. Once you're out of the house, you'll need to take the time and effort to take care of yourself, and learning to care for your mental health is a big part of adulthood. Thankfully, there are a variety of mental health resources available to college students all over. Keep reading to learn how to get the mental health help that you need when you go off to college.  

Look into mental health resources on-campus

Today's colleges and universities tend to put effort into staffing mental health professionals that can help students that are going through any issues during their time enrolled. These services are typically free or heavily discounted as part of your college tuition. 

In addition to general depression, there are a wide variety of mental health issues that people typically deal with in college. About of 10% of men and 20% of women deal with an eating disorder while in college. Other students suffer from suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide, live with debilitating anxiety, are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, struggle with identity issues, or have some sort of addiction problem. All of these issues fall under the banner of mental health, and the professionals trained to diagnose these issues can help you if you're dealing with them. 

Consider getting your own therapist 

While college mental health resources are excellent and helpful to so many students, you'll need to make sure you can continue doing the work once your college days are over or in between semesters. This will require you to find the help of a therapist that you can check in with. Take some time to research a therapist whose credentials you believe in, and make sure that your insurance plan includes mental health services. 

Work the process and make impactful changes to your life

A big part of doing the work requires you to set up lifestyle chances that you can carry well into the future. Things like journaling and meditating are helpful and can help you take what you learned in therapy and expound about it on the page. You should also look to get your physical health in order since it dictates how clear you think and whether you are constantly in a state of fight or flight. Work to remove the stressors from your life, and take the time to self-reflect as frequently as possible. 

Consider the points in this article so that you're able to get the mental health services that you need. Look for other college mental health resources.