Last year, a random sample of 917 University students participated in the National College Health Assessment, which was released last month and revealed a 4.6 percent increase over the last four years of college students who said they had received a diagnosis of depression.
According to Student Health Director Jim Turner, the University students who participated in the survey were taken from the 2003 graduating class. Of those who participated, 10 percent indicated that they had been diagnosed with depression within the last 12 months.
Of those University students who said they had been diagnosed with depression at any point in their lives, 24.7 percent of those sample respondents were in psychological therapy at the time and 37 percent were taking medication for depression. The nationwide sample of college students revealed similar numbers -- 25.2 percent of those diagnosed with depression were in therapy and 38 percent were taking medication.
Nationwide, 10 percent of students said they had "seriously considered" suicide at least once that year. Within the University sample, 7 percent reported considering suicide between one and 10 times during the year and 0.5 percent had attempted suicide.
Forty-five percent of students in the national sample said they had found it "difficult to function" because of depression at least once during the year, while 40 percent of University students said they felt that depression made it difficult for them to function at least once throughout the year.
Turner said the increase in diagnosed depression is real both on Grounds and campuses nationwide, yet it may only be a result of a growing awareness of the condition.
"I've been in college health for 20 years and there's been clearly a dramatic increase in those years of students coming to U.Va. with some psychiatric diagnosis or on medication," Turner said. "But there's some debate on whether there's more depressed students in the world or whether we're just getting better at diagnosing it."
Turner said he viewed the survey as evidence that more students are seeking help.
"We're talking about hundreds of students that are under treatment, and it's wonderful that they're benefiting from the access to these treatments when years ago they didn't have these," Turner said.
Lenny Carter, assistant director at the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services, said he agreed with Turner's assessment and urged more students to get help if they are having problems.
"The number of students seeking help clearly seems to be on the increase and that's really the good news," Carter said. "There's less stigma around seeking help than there used to be, but on the negative side, there's probably still a ton of people out there that aren't getting help... I'd like people to know that we're here. This is treatable and help is available right on Grounds"
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