The societal pressure to attain money and status bugs Anthony Damtsis.

“I’m concerned with what people think of me and how they think of me,” says the second-year business management student. “It’s all tied together. I feel like if I can’t achieve a lot of money then people are going to have less respect for me.”

Just last semester, Damtsis says this pressure caused him anxiety — bringing on a wave of self-doubt. He says that he became very unmotivated and, as a result, his grades began to drop.

“I went through a time of questioning my entire university life and I was just wondering if this was the right major and what I am doing here.”

Although Damtsis is not the most extreme case, he is one example of how the pressure to succeed is having an impact on the mental well-being of students.  
 
A recent American study published in the Clinical Psychology Review found that the rate of youth dealing with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues is five times higher today than in the Great Depression.

That study is the latest to draw attention to the issues faced by university students today that are having a negative impact on mental well-being.

Dr. Su-Ting Teo, director of student health and wellness at Ryerson, points to a number of possible factors.

These factors include higher competition and expectations for education and jobs, social expectations for material goods,  status and increased stress from financial pressures. She says although it’s hard to prove a direct link, we know that tuition and other costs have increased, and the economic crisis has also played a role.

Teo points to a passage from an article in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that illustrates why social expectations have changed in today’s world.

“Consumer culture and individualism have raised the bar of expectations so high that mental health suffers as a result. This view draws support from research finding that people pursuing extrinsic goals such as money, looks and status are more likely to be depressed.”

Teo says stress plays a very important role in mental health.

“Stress often leads people to stop the healthy habits that protect against mental illness: proper sleep, eating well and exercising regularly.”

Physiologically, stress causes the secretion of stress hormones that cause injury to the brain and leads to depression, Teo says.

She says it is important to take stock of these kinds of studies as mental illness places a huge burden on society as a whole.

“Many people are affected — not just the ill individuals — but their families and friends,” she says. “It has a direct cost on health care and economic losses from people unable to work.”

She says that mental health is not only the absence of illness but a mental strength and wellness that allows individuals to respond well to the events in their lives.

Dr. Greg Dubord, director of the Toronto Centre for Cognitive Therapy and a psychiatry professor at the University of Toronto, says our mental health is a product of our environment and our behaviours — which are increasingly unhealthy.

“Most students live lives divorced from the things that really matter,” he says.

“If you are truly poor, more money will definitely make you happier. However, once basic needs are met, more money rarely increases happiness proportionate to the effort required to attain it. Bill Gates may have a net worth 10 million times your own, but you can bet he’s not even twice as happy.”

He also says the advertising world has taught us to value things that do not correlate with happiness.

“A new car may bring on a rush of joy, but for most, that buzz soon wears off. In contrast, taking the time to build a solid friendship pays great dividends.”

Dubord says that some other reasons behind university students facing mental health issues include: lack of sleep, diets filled with highly refined and unnatural foods, too little exercise and working too many hours.

He says that despite the tools of technology such as Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging, too many people still feel lonely.

To preserve our mental health, Dr. Erin Hanssen, a cognitive behavioural therapist at the Toronto Centre for Cognitive Therapy, borrows a line from the famous psychologist Albert Ellis: stop “shoulding” all over yourself.

“Society tends to give the message that what you should be doing is to make a six-figure income and having all the status,” she says. “Why should you? Is that really what’s important — especially if it’s at the expense of your mental health?”

Ryerson health promoter Heather Grebler-Lush emphasizes the importance of listening to your body.

“In terms of acting in a preventative way, students need to be in tune with themselves,” she says.

“They need to recognize when they start to feel overwhelmed because it’s often that general feeling that they're overwhelmed that  might tip them off that something is a little imbalanced.”

As for Anthony Damtsis, he says a lot of the time, he doesn’t think societal expectations are attainable.
  “I think of my envisioning of success, money and power and when you bring it back to a more realistic standpoint, it’s impossible,” he said.

“There’s no way that I could achieve all of these things and still be as happy as I am now because I would have to devote my entire life to my career.”

But Damtsis recovered his equilibrium after booking an appointment with a student success representative.

He says he’s now refocused and sees the bigger picture: his life goals.

“I can now have the long run focus and see my undergrad degree as a stepping stone to something bigger and better, not an end in and of itself.”