Take a look around, and find four people aged 18-24. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one of them has a diagnosable mental illness.
There are roughly 30,000 students attending LSU right now, leaving 7,500 of them facing a mental health problem — and many of them are undiagnosed.
For some, it might be hard to believe that the people they walk by could be dealing with mental illness troubles, because we are conditioned to associate mental illness with insanity and mental institutions.
But many who struggle with mental disorders live relatively normal, functioning lives.
In fact, I’m almost positive that none of the four people you picked out look like they belonged in “American Horror Story: Asylum.”
Because of this negative image of mental health problems, people are reluctant to seek help and, therefore, go undiagnosed.
Stigma — the shame associated with a circumstance — is the number one barrier between college students and mental health diagnosis.
In a 2006 study by mtvU 503 college students were interviewed across the country, on stress, depression, stigma and college life. Of those, 72 percent said that a fear of embarrassment was the reason they would not seek mental health resources, should they have a problem.
That fear of embarrassment comes from those surrounding you, and in college that means your friend group. Especially among college-aged males, there is a stigma against emotions and a fear of being viewed as weak.
Interestingly enough, more than half of those students said that they would recommend that a friend seek help. I know this might sound crazy, but if your friends care about you they would probably want you to get better.
Another fear, that I myself have experienced, is the fear that admitting you have a problem will cost you your independence. As if making the responsible decision to actively seek medical attention means that you cannot be trusted with your own life.
These fears are very real in college students, and they are also very dangerous. Mental illnesses are not that different from physical illnesses, and when left untreated they often get worse.
My favorite comment on the issue of mental health stigma in the United States is from game show host Howie Mendel.
“We take care of our dental health, but not our mental health. We go to the dentist for x-rays when there’s no issue. Just to make sure everything is okay. But we don’t get a mental health check-up, because there is a stigma involved,” Mendel said in a February 2013 interview with ADDtitude magazine.
Not only is mental health as important as physical health, the two can often depend on each other.
I’ve suffered from digestive problems since middle school, and had countless medications and diagnoses since. But it wasn’t until a doctor suggested that it was anxiety related that I started seeing results.
I was anxious about work, school and my relationships, but I wrote it off as normal stress. I let it go for several years, and now I will have a messed up digestive tract for the rest of my life.
Don’t be so quick to write off extreme stress as normal. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, seek help.
LSU has numerous resources for students, and most of them are free and confidential. This includes The Phone, a crisis intervention hotline operated by LSU, where trained counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk to you. The number is (225) 924-3900.
In the end, the most important thing is you and you should never let a stigma keep you from being healthy.
Jana King is a 19-year-old women and gender studies sophomore from Ponchatoula, La.