Mental Health Issues on the Rise Among UK Students

More university students in the United Kingdom are struggling with mental health issues, according to a recent report published by the UK Parliament.

The House of Commons Library data reveals a large increase in the share of UK students with a mental health condition, up from under 1 percent in 2010/11 to 5.7 percent in the 2021/22 academic year, Erudera.com reports.

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, factors that make students’ mental health worse include financial worries, absence of emotional support, academic stress, and moving away from their home.

Another survey of 1,037 students by the mental health charity Student Minds published last year found that managing money was “often” or “all of the time” the cause of stress for 59 percent of students. The same found that over half of respondents were dealing with mental health issues.

Findings further revealed that 57 percent of student participants reported a mental health condition, and 27 percent were diagnosed with a mental health problem.

The Policy Institute at King’s College London and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) indicate in a report that the number of university students reporting mental health problems increased from 6 percent to 16 percent between 2016/17 and 2022/23 academic years.

Much of this increase was reported amid the COVID-19 pandemic and when the cost of living crisis in the UK began.

“Although some of this increase occurs around the time of the pandemic, and there is a large (32 percent) rise in the last 12 months focused around the point of the cost of living crisis, it is important to note that this change goes back further, suggesting that even if inflation returns to manageable levels, and even in a post-pandemic world, there is something going on that requires addressing,” the report says.

Many students thought of dropping out, and among them, the share mentioning financial worries as a reason went up from 3.5 percent to 8 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Earlier this year, Resolution Foundation, an independent UK-based think-tank, also confirmed that mental health concerns among young people are on the rise. The same is true for individuals in their early 20s, who are more likely to stop working due to poor health than those in their early 40s.

Young people have the worst mental health across any age group, with 34 percent of 18-24-year-olds experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder in 2021/22, the report added.