The findings also underscore the critical role college counseling centers serve in supporting the DEIB goals that are a priority for many institutions. Students with experiences of discrimination feel notably less distressed and socially isolated after receiving counseling services, but there are persistent outcome disparities when compared to students who did not experience discrimination.
“Counseling centers effectively support students who have experienced discrimination, but addressing the related mental symptoms is only a small piece of the solution,” Scofield said. “Institutions and leaders who prioritize and value mental health/wellness must simultaneously support DEIB-informed support services in order to close the gap in mental health symptoms and treatment outcomes among students who face identity-based discrimination.”
Penn State students can learn more about mental health resources available to them here.
The report summarizes data contributed to CCMH from 195 college and university counseling centers throughout the 2022-23 academic year.
Overall, 19.8% of students disclosed experiencing discrimination in the past six months based on one or more identities when they entered counseling services. The report does not identify the source of the discrimination, including whether it occurred within the collegiate community.
Students who indicated they experienced discrimination based on one or more identities — disability, gender, nationality/country of origin, race/ethnicity/culture, religion and/or sexual orientation — within the past six months reported substantially higher general distress, social isolation and suicidal thoughts when they began counseling compared to those clients who did not report discrimination.
“It is important to emphasize that discrimination is not a mental health issue; rather, it is a societal problem that has a strong link to serious mental health symptoms,” Scofield said. “DEIB initiatives are critical to buffer the impact of discriminatory experiences, initiate advocacy to remedy societal sources of discrimination, and address the mental health impacts of students with these experiences.”
CCMH plans to continue to track discrimination data over time, in addition to conducting future research in this area.
Other findings in the 2023 report include:
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History of counseling was the mental health history item with the largest 11-year increase: more than 61% of students entered services with prior counseling. Notably, history of trauma demonstrated the second largest rise: approximately 47% of students who initiated services endorsed a history of trauma.
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Of the areas that notably increased after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (social anxiety, academic distress, eating concerns and family distress), only academic distress appears to be declining, with social anxiety and family distress continuing to increase slightly and eating concerns remaining stable.
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Although it remained unchanged in the past year, anxiety continues to be the most common presenting concern identified by therapists.
CCMH is an international Practice-Research-Network (PRN) of more than 800 college and university counseling centers that brings together clinical work, research and technology. CCMH collects data through routine clinical practice from college and university counseling centers, creating the largest PRN of its kind in the world. Since its development in 2004 by Ben Locke, CCMH has collected data from more than 1.5 million unique clients.
The mission of CCMH is to create a standardized, continuously flowing database of college mental health data from participating college and university counseling/mental health centers that can serve as a resource for information and research on college student mental health.