Lifetime and 12‐month treatment for mental disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among first year college students
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Mental disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) are common and burdensome among college students. Although available evidence suggests that only a small proportion of the students with these conditions receive treatment, broad-based data on patterns of treatment are lacking. The aim of this study is to examine the receipt of mental health treatment among college students cross-nationally. METHODS: Web-based self-report surveys were obtained from 13,984 first year students from 19 colleges in eight countries across the world as part of the World Health Organization's World Mental Health-International College Student Initiative. The survey assessed lifetime and 12-month common mental disorders/STB and treatment of these conditions. RESULTS: Lifetime and 12-month treatment rates were very low, with estimates of 25.3-36.3% for mental disorders and 29.5-36.1% for STB. Treatment was positively associated with STB severity. However, even among severe cases, lifetime and 12-month treatment rates were never higher than 60.0% and 45.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: High unmet need for treatment of mental disorders and STB exists among college students. In order to resolve the problem of high unmet need, a reallocation of resources may focus on innovative, low-threshold, inexpensive, and scalable interventions.
Cite this
Ronny Bruffaerts, Philippe Mortier, Randy Patrick Auerbach, Jordi Alonso, Alicia Edith Hermosillo de la Torre, Pim J. Cuijpers, … Ronald C. Kessler (2019). Lifetime and 12‐month treatment for mental disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among first year college students. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1764
@article{ronny2019lifetime,
title = {Lifetime and 12‐month treatment for mental disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among first year college students},
author = {Bruffaerts, Ronny and Mortier, Philippe and Auerbach, Randy Patrick and Alonso, Jordi and Torre, Alicia Edith Hermosillo de la and Cuijpers, Pim J. and Demyttenaere, Koen and Ebert, David Daniel and Green, Jennifer Greif and Hasking, Penelope Anne and Stein, Dan Joseph and Ennis, Edel and Nock, Matthew K. and Sampson, Nancy A. and Vilagut, Gemma and Zaslavsky, Alan M. and Kessler, Ronald C.},
year = {2019},
journal = {International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research},
doi = {10.1002/mpr.1764}
}Citations in this library
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