One in three people have symptoms of mental disorders »| Society

According to a new international study, one in three first-year university students report symptoms of a mental health disorder.

The study examined the prevalence of psychological disorders – including major depression, mania, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, alcohol-related disorders and disorders related to the use of substances – in eight new industrialized countries.

The results, which are part of a World Health Organization initiative, are based on a series of web-based health surveys that are given to students a few months after they begin their university education.

35% of the 13,984 students who responded to the questionnaire reported having suffered at least one of the disorders during their lifetime, while 31% said they had suffered during the 12 months preceding the survey.

Major depression was the most common disorder, followed by anxiety, and the median age of onset was only 14.2 years.

"The transition from high school to high school can be very difficult," said Randy Auerbach, who studies depression and suicide at Columbia University and is the paper's lead author, who interviewed students in Australia, Belgium , in Germany, Mexico, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain and the United States.

"Disorder rates are alarming," he said, adding that the results indicate "a huge public health problem."

The actual prevalence may be much higher than that of the study because the scientists focused only on the most common disorders.

"We found that these disorders are widely distributed in the student population, suggesting that we need to do more to better understand mental disorders on college campuses," said Mr. Auerbach.

Being a woman, being older or having a non-heterosexual identification were "modestly related" with a higher prevalence of disorders, but additional research is needed before seeking specific interventions for these groups of people, said Auerbach. "It's a story that remains to be written," he warned.

David Gunnell, an epidemiologist and public health doctor at the University of Bristol, welcomed the results and their potential application in the development of interventions: "This is a very important study. It highlights the high levels of mental health problems among students once they come to university in these different countries.

"It's interesting to note that many of these freshmen were coming up with pre-existing problems."

The findings, published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, are of particular concern given the high prevalence of suicide among adolescents and young adults in the UK.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among people under 35, with more than 1,600 cases in the UK each year.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, there has been an increase in suicide rates among 15 to 19 year olds in the United Kingdom over the past five to six years, but rates are not yet as high as in the past. they were in the UK. 1980 Gunnell said: "The number of student suicides has also increased during this same period, but the absolute rate of suicide among students, the number of deaths per 100,000 students, is less than half that of the population. in general.

"So, if there is a concern about the increase in student suicides, the rise in youth suicide may be more worrisome. They seem to be more at risk than students.

British researchers, at a press conference on student suicide Thursday, called for more research to be conducted before evidence-based policies can be developed.

"We need a lot more research to try to understand the kind of problems that lead to suicide," said Keith Hawton, director of the Suicide Research Center at Oxford University, which said also called for impartial, sensitive and balanced reports. subject in the media.

Auerbach also echoed this research need, stressing the need to develop more innovative ways to reach students who may not have access to typical services in campus counseling centers.

Online processing could provide an alternative outlet for students, allowing for "more immediate, scalable, relatively inexpensive and time-sensitive access to care that addresses some of the concerns of stigma".

• In the United Kingdom, Samaritans can be reached at 116 123. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Service is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the Lifeline Crisis Service is operational on November 13, 2011. Hotlines can be found in other countries here.