College Life and the Statistics

Through out the past year, I've done a lot of self-exploration and maturing (yes, things that I should have done before getting married, but I was blessed to have married a man who stood next to me through all of my wonderings of who I really am and how I'm going to chose to live my life). In the midst of everything I discovered what I already knew. I realized that I have a few life experiences that not a lot of adults my age have gone through and that I can really relate to people who have gone through similar things. Then, as I became more open with my struggles with anxiety and depression in hopes to be a positive role model, I found that the majority of the people I know are working through the same battle. We may have had different experiences that brought us to this point, but most of my peers relate to my situation. The more vocal I became, the more open and confident others were becoming as well. From here I decided that it would be selfish of me to not step up and be a voice to show how common anxiety and depression are, specifically with college students, since I am one and therefore relate very well to that population. None of us are alone in this, and though I've pulled myself up by the bootstraps with the help my husband, therapist, family, friends, and medication, I still have occasional days that can be very discouraging. However, I'm choosing to be open with it because it helps me and helps others.

Here's a graph that I found interesting: