Lecture halls, residence buildings and packed schedules are a normal part of college life. But for many students, these everyday pressures can quietly build into something more serious: depression.
Shirley Porter is a college counsellor at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. with nearly 30 years of experience working with post-secondary students. She says this age group is one of the most common where depression first appears.
“College is a time when students are going through many stressors at once — new environments, new responsibilities and sometimes leaving home for the first time,” she said. “For some students, this stress can trigger depression.”
Porter created a workbook with practical exercises students can use on their own or alongside therapy to manage depression.
She recommends simple strategies such as mindful breathing, grounding exercises, listening to music, warm drinks and spending time in nature.
One approach she uses in practice is based on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), which focuses on mindfulness, emotional regulation and coping skills. She explains it using the idea of a “window of tolerance.”
“If we move outside that window, emotions can feel overwhelming or we may feel disconnected,” Porter said. “The goal is to help students return to that window or make it wider.”
This approach is the foundation for her workbook called The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills Workbook for Depression.
Porter explained that students often don’t recognize the early signs because they seem easy to dismiss.
“Some early signs can be feeling sad all the time or feeling nothing at all — a flat sense of disconnection,” she said. “You might notice you’re no longer interested in things you used to enjoy. There can be sleep issues, appetite changes, trouble concentrating and memory problems.”
In more serious cases, students may begin having thoughts about wanting the pain to stop.
“When clients tell me these thoughts appeared suddenly, I explain that this is the mind and body saying they’ve exhausted their ability to cope and need outside support,” Porter said.
Despite these warning signs, many students hesitate to seek help because they see depression as a weakness.
“Depression is not a character flaw. It’s a medical condition,” she said. “There are effective treatments available.”
In her research, Porter has noticed that seeking help can also affect academic success.
She said first-year students have a 10 per cent higher retention rate if they access counselling compared to those who do not.