The transition back to university is full of excitement and stress for parents and students alike. However, university student stress is real. Many students can experience back to university mental health issues. The experience of university school stress can really impact this transition. We know that rates of university student stress, anxiety, student burnout and low mood have been rising.
There are many mental health challenges facing university students today. However, these issues are manageable. Understanding more about these issues and how to access professionals delivering college therapy support is essential. Moreover, finding the right college therapy support can ensure that students are able to succeed and allows parents to rest assured that their loved ones are getting the help they need.
This blog will focus on mental health tips for college students and parents. Whether it is your first year away or you are returning for ongoing studies, we believe this blog will contain helpful information to ensure this year is a success!
What Are Common Mental Health Struggles Among University Students?
There are many different signs of university school stress and mental health struggles amongst students. It is important to be able to recognize them easily to ensure that your loved one is able to receive the proper college therapy support. Research shows us that university students endorse different symptoms and behaviours related to decreased mental health functioning.
The most recent National College Health Assessment brought to light many of these, including:
- 30% of students endorsed anxiety had a negative impact on their studies
- Over 75% of students mentioned getting less than 8 hours of sleep (on average) over the last 2 weeks
- Almost 60% of students reported spending at least 6 hours or more engaged in social media in a typical week (which could negatively impact sleep or mental health)
Let’s review below the different mental health struggles seen amongst university students:
Stress due to Academic Pressure
University student stress is often related to the continuous pressure to perform well academically. This can be especially true for students in undergraduate university who are planning on applying to graduate school or educational programs following their initial degree (e.g., medical school, law school, accounting, etc.). It can also be true for those who want to obtain high marks in undergraduate programs to obtain co-op placements or job-related experiences immediately after graduating. These experiences can be very competitive, and there can be much uncertainty about the future.
Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders
University students might have pre-existing mental health conditions or might experience emerging mental health issues during their time at university. In either situation, it is important to be aware of what these might look like and what types of college therapy support can be sought in response to them.
*This is not an exhaustive list of potential symptoms, and it is recommended to speak with a physician or psychologist regarding possible symptoms and diagnosis.
Common symptoms of anxiety disorders might include:
- Social anxiety – excessive fear of social situations due to intense concern regarding negative evaluation or judgement from others. Social situations may include: public speaking, attending larger and smaller social gatherings, meeting and speaking with new people, asking questions in class, eating in front of others and using public bathrooms.
- Generalized anxiety – excessive worries that often feel uncontrollable and occur in response to multiple situations, including but not limited to health, work and academic performance, finances, family members and world events. These worries can lead to ongoing physical issues such as muscle tension, fatigue, sleep issues and difficulty concentrating.
The impacts of these anxiety symptoms may include: avoidance of classes and presentations; difficulty focusing in class, during exams and when needing to study; difficulty making friends and loneliness. Overall, this type of university student stress can greatly impact overall adjustment and academic resilience.
Depression
Symptoms of depression can also be extremely debilitating for university students and greatly impact motivation and academic performance. Individuals experiencing depression may cite experiencing continuous low mood, most days, for at least 2 weeks; a loss of interest in things previously enjoyed; difficulty with sleep, concentration and appetite; as well as feelings of guilt and worthlessness. Symptoms of depression may lead to thoughts of ending one’s life and it is imperative that a mental health professional is contacted.
When individuals experience depression, they may become isolated from others, lose motivation to attend classes and complete schoolwork and avoid campus activities. Knowing the potential signs can help loved ones to intervene and engage in an open dialogue to explore options for support.
Other Signs: Burnout
Other signs of university school stress might also include feelings of being burnt out and the use of unhelpful coping strategies. Burnout is often experienced as emotional exhaustion and being overwhelmed by having taken on too many work-related tasks. When individuals are burnt out, they often cite having “taken on too much”. At university, this may happen when someone takes on too heavy a course load and engages in multiple jobs and extracurriculars. When feelings of student burnout arise, speaking with someone to figure out what is most important to retain and what can be let go of is important.
It can sometimes be difficult to understand whether you might be experiencing burnout or, perhaps, a depressive episode. Speaking with a mental healthcare professional is key to understanding symptoms and treatment options.
The following imaginary clinical vignette illustrates symptoms of burnout and depression. It is based on years of Dr. Taube-Schiff’s clinical experience, but in no way resembles any actual clients seen. It is purely fictional.
Priya, a third-year undergraduate student, noticed she had no motivation to attend lectures or meet friends. This was a change from her typical behaviour. She often enjoyed her classes and professors and had a few close friends she liked to be with. Initially, she thought she was just “lazy” or burned out. She had taken on a new extracurriculars and was feeling somewhat overwhelmed.
She reached out to a psychologist. Through a proper clinical assessment, she understood that she was experiencing ongoing and persistent sadness, lack of interest in pleasure in most things, disrupted concentration, sleep and appetite. She also felt a great deal of hopelessness. Therapy helped her identify the difference between temporary burnout and a depressive episode, and she began treatment that involved CBT interventions and discussions around lifestyle changes. She found this to be extremely helpful.
Unhelpful coping strategies to all these issues may include:
- Oversleeping to avoid work or due to emotional exhaustion
- Missing classes due to feelings of being overwhelmed
- Avoiding speaking with family and friends
- Not leaving home and engaging with others on campus
- Loss of appetite, overeating or eating unhealthy foods on a regular basis
- Not finishing assignments or writing tests and exams
Understanding the impact of university school stress requires examining an individual’s overall functioning. Strategies for how to handle academic pressure can be helpful. Read on to learn about mental health tips for college students!
How Parents Can Be a Supportive Resource?
If you are a parent reading this blog, you are likely thinking: How can I help my loved one learn how to handle academic pressure? That can be a big source of stress. Back to university mental health issues impact students and parents alike!
As a parent, you are trying to balance supporting your loved one and providing them with the autonomy they crave at this age. It can be challenging to figure out how to be the best supportive resource.
Here are some suggestions for parents to be a supportive resource:
How Can I Balance Providing Support and Encouraging Autonomy?
A common question that I will hear from parents of university students (and often older high school students) is:
One of the most common questions I hear from parents of university students is: “How do I support my child without overstepping?” This is a really difficult balance to reach! If your loved one has gone away to university, it might be their first time being far away and they are facing new academic and social challenges. However, university is also a stage of development in which you want your child to build their independence and confidence.
A helpful way to think about this is scaffolding. This can be a helpful way for parents to guide students regarding how to handle academic pressure. For any parents reading, this is also really helpful during high school years as well! Just like we think of in construction, scaffolding provides us with temporary support until the structure is strong enough to stand by itself.
What might this look like for parents:
- Helping your loved one set up a plan to manage workload (think agendas, shared electronic calendars, visual wipe-off to-do boards)
- Encouraging regular sleep and exercise
- Checking in periodically and gauging when to check in based on mood and anxiety levels
- Resist the urge to solve every problem for them (even if you likely have the right answer!)
- Asking about well-being and not just grades (this creates a scaffold for them to tune into their overall well-being and encourages healthy strategies)
Coaching questions can be very helpful for parents to have on hand. These might sound like:
- “What strategies have worked for you in the past? Let’s revisit those together.”
- “What have you been able to do so far and where have you been getting stuck?”
- “Would you like me to just listen, or would you like ideas for next steps?”
Overparenting (aka “helicopter parenting”) has been found to have negative impacts on children’s mental health. Conversely, parental warmth and support have been shown to be beneficial for children’s mental health and are important elements to have within one’s parenting toolbox. Of course, these are complex relationships and will not be fully reviewed in the context of this particular blog. Please do check out the Quick Tips for Parents box to have a handy reference of some strategies that may help you and your emerging adult child as they transition back to university!
5 Practical Tips for Parents:
Balancing Support and Autonomy
- Check in, don’t check up: Provide calls and texts to your loved ones that are invitations for support and not demands. For example, “Thinking of you, let me know if you want to talk?” versus “Did you finish that assignment we spoke about?”
- Validate before advising: Start from a place of empathy and do not advise. For example, “That sounds like a rough day.” or “Would you like me to suggest any ideas or just be present and listen?”
- Encourage problem-solving: Instead of just offering advice and solutions, consider asking coaching questions. For example, “What might be your next step?” or “Who on campus could help you with that?” or “Why don’t you try and contact them now and we can work on an email together”.
- Support healthy routines: Although it can be challenging, you want to try and gently suggest healthy patterns of sleep, nutrition, and movement by highlighting how they can help with energy, focus and mood. If these things are framed in the context of academic performance only, they might be rejected.
- Trust their growth: Remind your loved one (and you!) that setbacks happen to all of us. They are part of learning and independence. You can let them know this explicitly. For example, “I believe in you. I know it is difficult but I know you can figure this out.”
It also goes without saying that you want to ensure you watch for any red flags that suggest a sudden drop or change in mental health. Signs of this nature could be: extreme withdrawal, disengagement from classes, and sudden drops in performance. Any stated thoughts of harm to oneself should be immediately investigated by a healthcare professional. In these instances you want to step in explicitly to ensure your loved one receives the help they need.
The following imaginary clinical vignette illustrates ways in which we can work with students and parents to provide mental health tips for college students. It is based on years of Dr. Taube-Schiff’s clinical experience, but in no way resembles any actual clients seen. It is purely fictional.
Maya, a second-year student, came to therapy reporting overwhelming anxiety before midterms. It felt debilitating and was hard to study or perform well academically. She also spoke about how her parents called daily to remind her to study, but this only heightened her sense of anxiety and eventual failure. She asked that her therapist speak with her parents to try and find more supportive solutions for everyone.
Her therapist, with consent, spoke to her family and everyone decided that their role could be shifted to offer brief check-ins focused on encouragement rather than control. They even decided on some phrases that would be helpful, such as “We believe in you, and we’re here if you need us”. Maya reported feeling less pressure, and her study habits improved when she felt trusted rather than monitored. Therapy also focused on healthy study habits, chunking work into small tasks and a more fulsome assessment to see if any accommodations could be put in place.
My messaging to all parents is to not step away entirely AND to not solve every problem as if it were your own. You want to strive to provide a foundation of safety while also allowing your loved ones to practice managing their own challenges.
What Other Resources and Therapy Options Might Be Available?
Of course it is important when scaffolding and coaching to also ensure that your loved one explores the range of options available for college therapy support. It is important to take the time to review everything with your loved ones to find out which would be most helpful.
Here are some types of resources that you would want to consider:
- On-Campus Supports
- This would include university counseling centers, academic accommodations
- Other options might include: on-campus learning strategists, writing support centers
- For students with accommodations, they may be able to receive extra time for tests and exams or a smaller room to write exams in
- Off-Campus Therapy Options
- Some students have therapists from before they started university; carrying these relationships over during the transition can be advantageous
- Online therapy for university school stress can be helpful and allow you to access a broad range of supports across the province you live in and where the university is situated
- Evidence-Based Approaches
- CBT interventions are often extremely beneficial for anxiety and depression, stress management and burnout
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy interventions are also beneficial to learn more about present moment awareness, defusion strategies for unhelpful thinking styles, decreasing experiential avoidance and engaging in activities that matter and align with values
- Executive functioning can also be addressed within the context of CBT and other types of therapeutic interventions
- Parenting support
- As a parent, you might want to opt for some therapy sessions yourself to discuss this transition and ways in which you can provide the best tools and support
- Online therapy can also allow sessions to take place with parents and their loved ones, as needed, despite being in different locations
It is essential to explore support and therapy options early, not just when there is a state of crisis. Having the right tools for how to handle academic pressure is essential and are the keys to success for all families managing these changes.
With the Right Support, Students Can Thrive!
It is essential to remember that stress and mental health struggles are common, especially during times of immense transition and change. They are not a sign of weakness or fault. They are to be expected and reaching out early is the key to success. Making use of any and all available resources will allow for healthy functioning and resilience with respect to mental health, academic goals and success.
Does Forward Thinking Psychological Services ® offer services that focus on mental health tips for college students? We absolutely do! Read more about our individual therapy services, parent coaching services, anxiety therapy services and depression therapy services. We also offer support throughout Canada, including services in Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. Contact us to learn more! We believe that with the right support students can thrive socially, emotionally and academically when they are at university!
References
American College Health Association. (2023). National College Health Assessment: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Data Report. Retrieved from https://www.acha.org/NCHA.
Schiffrin, H.H., Liss, M., Miles-McLean, H. et al. Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well-Being. J Child Fam Stud 23, 548–557 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9716-3
Jiao J, Segrin C. Moderating the Association Between Overparenting and Mental Health: Open Family Communication and Emerging Adult Children’s Trait Autonomy. J Child Fam Stud. 2023;32(3):652-662. doi: 10.1007/s10826-022-02528-2. Epub 2023 Jan 4. PMID: 36619607; PMCID: PMC9811893.
Zhang, X., Wang, Y., & Geng, F. (2025). Perceived Parental Warmth and Young Adults’ Social-Emotional Skills: Influence Through Social and Psychological Well-Being. The Journal of Psychology, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2025.2502728
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