College students have many concerns that arise because of the environmental change between high school and college. With the pressures of academic achievement, financial issues, internships, employment, adjustment, and other problems depending on the student they find themselves unable to properly combat their past and new issues. Anxiety differs from each student but the stress of college causes many students to experience it if they haven't before. Students at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) go to Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) for help with psychological issues. This service continues to help students' year after year but people are still hesitant to talk about their problems even anxiety which is very common among students. The increase in college-related anxiety relates to the sudden pressures students experience along with their own hesitancy to receive treatment.

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"I get hot, my heart races, I feel like I can’t breathe (or I breathe too fast), nausea, I feel like there is this pent up energy inside me and it will not go away - often I will shake my legs to try and relieve it, but that rarely helps."

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- Anonymous (Senior)

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What Increases Anxiety?

Although anxiety differs from each individual and can be triggered from different things, certain events,
history, relations, and more affect each student.

Grades

Current Year
(fresh.Soph.Jun.Sen.)

Heredity

Major

Expectations

Presentations

New people/environment

Employment

Uncertainity

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Cynthia Tedy

Throughout TCNJ students continue to have mental health issues specifically anxiety which gets affected because of different reasons one being changed. A mathematics senior who prefers to remain anonymous said she started to notice her anxiety increased from change and "the need to feel safe." She noticed her anxiety at age seven and has dealt with it for at least 15 years, but she started to notice the trigger when she started college. This particular student mentioned how excited she was to live on her own when she started college, but this added to the sudden change. A freshman at TCNJ who prefers to remain anonymous mentioned how she was excited about "independence and the freedom to make" her own choices. Yet, she mentions how uncertain situations also trigger it while there are times she does not know what does. This student remembers not turning in an assignment in high school because of it relating to group work and the subject she did not consider themselves proficient in. Similar to the senior I interviewed they realized it at a young age though older, middle school. Also, similar to the senior they said they were not good with change so they were worried about "being stuck on campus, living with a roommate for the first time, communal bathrooms, and new professors. For many people, college is a mystery. While they have common information, they do not know specifics or the true difficulty of it until they experience it firsthand. This becomes noticeable when college students psychological condition is studied and they themselves get help.

"What can Help?"

Therapy


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"My therapist. She's a gift from god." - Anonymous (Senior)

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• Breathing
  

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  "At its worst [anxiety] sweating, feeling like I can't breathe, shaking, crying, can't focus on literally anything."

  - Anonymous (Senior)

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• Speaking up
  

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  "Reading about others and realizing that I'm not alone with my anxiety."

  - Anonymous (Senior)

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• Keeping Busy
  

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  "Breathing exercises and keeping a busy schedule has helped my anxiety."

  Anonymous (freshman)

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• Sleep

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  "Absolutely. There are days (or weeks or semesters) when it is just so bad that I can tell my grades are being affected because I'm not sleeping and not focused on my school work."

  - Anonymous (Senior)

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Anxiety with college students has become a common occurrence as shown through multiple studies one released by The American Psychological Association. Amy Novotney, a writer and communications consultant for the association provides statistics about the issues college students had that caused them to go seek help at a counseling center. The chart shows that between 2007 and 2008 about 35% of students went for help because of anxiety issues. Yet, this changes to 41% in 2010 and slowly increases until it becomes 47% by 2013. The chart shows a majority of students went to counseling services because of depression which was about 39% in 2007. It decreased in 2008 then increased and decreased at an about average rate between 2008-2012 then became 39% by 2013 (Novotney). The reason for these to increase relates to the environmental change that must be emotionally, mentally, and physically accepted.

The American Psychological
Association Statistics apa.org