Editor’s note: UNI students can schedule counseling appointments at the Student Health Center by calling 319-273-2676. For urgent situations outside of office hours, dial the same number and press 2 to speak to a crisis counselor.

Depression among college students has been a documented issue for a long time, but the causes and effects of this mental disorder are still under investigation.

Factors including family stress, perceived success in regard to academic achievement and potential financial success are all applicable when researching the causes for increased instances of depressive episodes and overall feelings of sadness.

In a study published in the Journal of American College Health in July 2016, self-reports among thousands of college students resulted in significant increases in feeling “frequently” depressed, with a 9.5 percent increase over a five-year period (Bohon, et al., 2016). Among a similarly sized sample, 7.4 percent of college students reported contemplating suicide and 1.5 percent had actually attempted suicide (Bohon, et al., 2016).

These numbers are alarming when thought of in terms of the amount of college students currently enrolled in higher education. At the University of Northern Iowa, enrollment was reported at 12,159 students. This means that more than 180 UNI students (by average) have attempted suicide at some point in their lives. This number is alarming and likely unknown by those who need to know. It is only when an attempt is successful that the population have to face the reality of suicide attempts among itself.

Depression doesn’t always lead to suicide ideations and attempts and suicide attempts do not automatically mean the individual was depressed. While there is a very strong correlation between the two conditions, there is no cause and effect statement that can be made.

Depression causes effects that aren’t necessarily seen by others. Lack of motivation is one of the highest reported symptoms of depression as those with the illness are unable to feel like they will enjoy activities prior to partaking in them, and even if they feel they may, they do not have the motivation to participate in the first place.

This is true for things that the person may greatly enjoy, such as attending an event, or hanging out with friends, but it is especially applicable when there is something the person isn’t necessarily excited about, such as work or attending class.

Missing important events, such as class, can cause a person’s perception of their own self-worth to become even less positive. As they see themselves as less worthy of happiness due to their shortcomings, they become even less motivated to attend class, causing a spiral that can be difficult, even impossible to overcome.

Missing class can also lead to missing schoolwork, causing the person to fall even further behind, the cycle spinning faster and faster into a negative mental space. This cycle is the cause of failure amongst students and employees who may have the internal need or desire to participate, but the illness that they are fighting doesn’t allow them to.

I am a victim of this cycle. My schoolwork has suffered because of my depression, my work has suffered because of my increasingly negative self-worth perception and my personal life has suffered because everything else has suffered.

I have fallen deeper and deeper into a pit and the light at the top is getting dimmer and dimmer, but I have not stopped clawing and climbing to get back to the top.

What I need now is someone to lend me a hand and help me up. I am not deserving of the help, but I am at a point where I need someone to be there like I’ve never needed anyone before. If you are feeling like I do, I’m sorry that I can not help you right now, but please know that someone can help you, you just need to ask.

-T. William Ingham,

senior psychology major