Physical and
emotional lows
challenge college
students
MORGAN RULEVICH
Contributor
mrulevic@unca.edu
After a serious car accident in Or
lando, Florida, full-time student athlete
Hannah Stuart had three surgeries on a
broken wrist, collar bone and shattered
vertebrae in her spine.
“Following that, my junior year 1
tore a ligament in my wrist and had re
construction surgery in January,” Stuart
said.
According to the NCAA Sports Sci-,
ence Institute, the range of responses to
injuries varies greatly and can manifest
as depression, anxiety, eating disorders,
substance abuse and physical abuse.
Stuart said going through the phys
ical and emotional trauma of the acci
dent made it hard to come back and get
back into school and exams.
“UNC Asheville’s faculty were defi
nitely way more helpful compared to
something I would get at another uni
versity and many of my professors were
willing to work with me,” Stuart said.
Jay Cutspec, director of the Health
and Counseling Center at UNC Ashe
ville, said a physical injury on top of so
cial isolation causes students to become
depressed.
Prevalence of depression or anxiety
among students in health professions
report higher than the general popu
lation in resource-constrained settings
and resource-rich settings, according
to BioMed Central, a committee on
publication ethics.
“The most significant challenge is
the fact that students are unable to dp
all of the things that they were accus
tomed to doing. Nothing has limit
ed their ability being young, healthy
adults so when people get injured all of
a sudden not only are they injured, but
then on top of it they can’t do the same
-
'.'H
EVERYBODY
NEEDS A FRIEND.
EVERYBODY NEEDS
SOMEBODY TO TALK
TO,”
— Kenda Mullert
things that their friends are doing,”
Cutspec said.
According to the Government re
searchers with the National Center for
Biotechnology Information, psycho
logical distress among students may
adversely influence their academic per
formance and quality of life and may
contribute to alcohol and substance
abuse, decreased empathy and academ
ic dishonesty.
“Especially with the car accident or
following surgeries, I was on pain pills
for a decent amount of time, so it was
very difficult to focus and medication
made it a lot harder even when I was
able to study at home,” Stuart said.
Students seeking support can re
ceive personalized services at UNCA,
who offers a diverse amount of resourc
es compared to other urdversities. Cut-
spec said.
College based mental health and
well being programs, as well as inter
ventions become increasingly impera
tive as they contribute to prevention of
mental health difficulties, according to
researchers.
Cutspec said students don’t have to
do it alone. He stresses the importance
of reaching out to people, not necessar-
•Si'S
^ y
■>*(
PHOTO COORTESY OF HANNAH STOART
Hannah Stuart and Noreen Stuart after being discharged from Orlando
Regional Medical Center.
ily a counselor, but a trainer, coach or
family member.
Kenda Mullert, a health promotion
coordinator at UNCA, helps interns in
their twenties by developing skills to be
better people and employees.
“We value the student’s well being
so much here, I want to help students
define and take responsibility,” Mullert
said. “It’s OK to not be OK.”
Recent medical journals report
during the last decade, university and
college counseling centers report a shift
in the needs of students seeking coun
seling services, from more benign de
velopmental and informational needs,
to more severe psychological problems.
“I think students are more afraid
to appear that they are in need. It’s the
shame about vulnerability no matter
what that need is and the idea of open
ing up to expose yourself is really hard
for students,” Mullert said.
According to Mullert, students have
an idea of what being happy theoreti
cally looks and feels like and if it’s not
that they freak out automatically as
suming they’re depressed, lonely or
wrong. Mullert said setting goals or
making promises to yourself every day
to accomplish one small task aids in the
decrease of trying to fit into a certain
definition of happiness.
“Everybody needs a friend. Every
body needs somebody to talk to,” Mul
lert said.