Addressing Mental Wellness and Social Anxiety With Counseling Director Carrie Brown (Podcast)
Moving away from home and embarking on your Syracuse University journey can be a difficult time as students leave behind their families and friends and start a new chapter in their lives.
On top of that, a recent report from the annual Healthy Minds Study shows that rates of social anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts among U.S.-based college students are at an all-time high, with 44% of students reporting symptoms of depression, 37% reporting anxiety disorders and 15% reporting seriously considering suicide in the past year, the highest recorded rates in the 15-year history of the survey.
There was some positive data to come out of the survey of more than 96,000 students: the number of college students receiving therapy or counseling rose from 30% to 37% in the last year, the highest recorded rates.
The mental health and well-being of Syracuse’s students is a top priority for Carrie Brown, the counseling director at the Barnes Center at The Arch who also serves on the Sexual and Relationship Violence Response Team.
“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in social anxiety. Students are saying the number one thing they’re worried about is how other people perceive them. When we think of social anxiety, sometimes we think of people being introverted, and certainly that can be a part of it,” Brown says. “But what was really interesting is our students are more worried about how their peers perceive them. Social media plays a role in that. There’s this expectation that everybody is living an extraordinary life and everybody is doing everything the right way and looks great all the time. I think that distorts the reality. Most of us just want to connect with people and be happy.”
On this “‘Cuse Conversation,” Brown explores the topics of social anxiety, mental wellness, making new friends and finding community on campus.
Brown discusses the University’s integrated health and wellness model for addressing mental health concerns, shares how the University focuses on a student’s holistic development while remaining empathetic to their concerns, offers up tips for finding community and shares common mistakes students make when trying to make friends and develop their social circle.
Check out episode 150 of the “’Cuse Conversations” podcast featuring Brown. A transcript [PDF] is also available.
