10 Struggles You Will Face In College If You Have A Mental Illness

Mental illness isn’t uncommon. Even if you have never experienced mental illness, you (without a doubt) know someone that does or has. College can sometimes worsen these illnesses. These are 10 things that will most likely happen to you if you already struggle with a mental illness.

1. Feeling Overwhelmed

Between homework, adulting and maintaining a social life, you will feel extremely overwhelmed, leading to an increased sense of anxiety and sometimes even a worsening depression.

2. Eating Issues

Due to being overwhelmed you will find that you might sacrifice a nice meal for not eating at all or eating ALL THE TIME. This can lead to disordered eating and a further sense of isolation from fellow classmates and friends.

3. Missing Class

Knowing that there is nobody to police you when you miss class, you may miss classes more often. This may be due to your mental illness or have absolutely nothing to do with it. However, it will still make you feel more overwhelmed and increase those feelings of anxiety you may already have.

4. Feeling All Alone

When you first get to college it is very likely that you may not know anybody. This means that you will not have an immediate support system surrounding you like you might have had prior to enrolling. And creating a new support system is not always easy.

5. Figuring Out Who To Trust

You will have to decide who to tell and how much you want them to know. This can be a frightening process. However this is crucial to adjusting to college as you need someone that is easily accessible when you are having a hard time, and it will help you to feel more secure and less isolated.

6. Parties

For most college kids, parties are just a way to socialize and meet new people. However, for someone with a mental illness, it can become a way to disassociate from the chaos in their mind. This can lead to many things including addiction, blacking out, and negative impacts on any relationships you may have built.

7. Adjusting To A New Environment

You will have to get used to a whole new environment. This is frightening to anyone but even more so for someone who struggles with a mental illness. Every task might seem impossible because you don’t know how to navigate the campus.

8. Finding A New Provider

If you are moving from a different state or city, you will have to find all new providers. This can take forever and you may need to switch a couple of times in order to find a good match. If you take medication, this might leave you without meds for a little bit until you get settled in with a provider.

9. Overthinking Everything

You will have downtime a lot more than you would think. This can lead to overthinking everything and further worsening your mental illness.

10. Not Knowing Where To Go For Help

You may just need more help overall and not know how to access it. This is a fairly simple solution, but it is a real issue for some people. But never fear, there is support out there and you will get better, no matter what you are struggling with.