Mental health is shown to worsen in college, according to www.bestcolleges.com. According to an American College Health Association 2023 national survey mentioned on the website, 33% of the over 55,000 undergraduate students are diagnosed with anxiety, 28% with depression, 7% with eating disorders and 7% with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Western Kentucky University sophomore London Ipox of Nortonville, Ky. said she is diagnosed with severe depression. “I can’t look at myself without being disgusted,” Ipox said. “I’m exhausted all the time, I can’t think normally, I forget things that I don’t mean to forget.”

Western Kentucky University sophomore Riley Rainwater of Campbellsville, Ky. said she is diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder and got diagnosed when she was 15-years-old. “It makes it very hard to have motivation to do anything, because I already have it in my head that something is going to go wrong or no one there is going to like me,” Rainwater said. “I just automatically assume when I first meet someone that there’s something they don’t like about me.”

Western Kentucky University sophomore Hudson Hatcher of Thompson’s Station, Tenn. said he is diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. “Once I actually am able to sit down and start it [work], I have a lot of trouble with staying focused in on that, even if it’s something I really enjoy like video games,” Hatcher said, “A lot of times, I’ll look off to check something real quick and get distracted and have to refocus myself back.”

Western Kentucky University junior Justyce Warden of Lewisburg, Ky. said she is diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and has been for at least three years. “I wish mental health awareness was bigger than it is, especially in people younger and even older,” Warden said. “I wish people were more aware of what it actually is, how it actually affects people and being more aware of it in older and younger people so that way they can get the help they need early on.”