Burnout students in stress

More and more students suffer from burnout and other mental health problems

07/10/2014

More and more students are suffering from mental health problems such as burnout or depression. The density of study programs, the high content requirements, the time pressure, the unfamiliar environment, the distance to family and friends as well as numerous other factors can play a role here. Help is provided by the psychological counseling centers of the Studentenwerke, which are the first point of contact for those affected.

The increasing mental health problems of students are also reflected in the dramatic increase in inquiries at the Studentenwerk's psychological counseling centers. In 2003, around 11,600 people seeking help had already reached the counseling centers. In 2010, this number had already reached 23,200, and in 2012 more than 27,500 students registered with the counseling centers. This also suggests that the basic conditions for the students have changed so much in the past ten years that the psychological stress has increased significantly.

Complex mental problems of the students
The use of psychological counseling has increased significantly among students overall „World Online“ citing Stefan Grob of the German Studentenwerk in Berlin. The range of possible mental health problems is extremely broad. As examples of the problems the student calls the „Psychological-Psychotherapeutic Consultation“ of the Studentenwerk Berlin among others „Study-related difficulties (speech and exam anxiety, procrastination, writer's block, concentration disorders, self-organization)“, „Psychosomatic complaints, eating disorders“ or „Addiction problems (media dependence, alcohol, drugs)“ and „Current crisis situations (loss of a meaningful person, thoughts of suicide, experiences with sexual or violent attacks).“

Self-esteem problems, anxiety and depression
In addition, are „Self-esteem problems, anxiety, depressive moods“ and signs of burnout often reason for seeking help to the psycho-psychotherapeutic counseling. In many cases, the students also lead their difficult social situation or the incompatibility of study and job in the counseling centers. Stefan Grob sees a major reason for the enormous stress in the study of the Bachelor's degree programs, which demand the students a high learning time in a relatively short time. Many can not cope with the pressure without help. This is often the case for students who place particularly high demands on themselves and devote themselves extremely ambitiously to their tasks. „Often the stress is homemade because students expect things that are simply not realistic“, cited „World Online“ the head of the psychosocial counseling center of the Studentenwerk Oldenburg, Wilfried Schumann.

Identify stress factors, specifically provide relaxation
The combination of demanding studies, the learning of other foreign languages ​​and a time-consuming side job is usually difficult to cope without the social contacts and the personal timeouts come here too short. The latter, however, are particularly important to draw the new energy. „Everyone needs such private oases in everyday life in order to reach their destination professionally“, said Norbert Hüge, CEO of the German Association for Burnout Prevention and Prevention (DBVB) in Munich „World Online“. The DBVB continues to report that it is important, „to identify possible stress factors for yourself, to figure out the burnout spiral again.“ Here, the emergence of a burnout is also influenced by our own personality, explained Norbert Hüge. The DBVB identifies prevention options as identification and reduction of stress sources, targeted relaxation (for example through progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, yoga, tai chi, qigong), sufficient sleep, regular exercise, healthy nutrition and taking time off , (Fp)