Stress and Anxiety in Yale

  • Even though students at Yale are very privileged to be at a place like Yale, they are so stressed and filled with anxiety because they are overwhelmed and incredibly busy all the time.
  • Here are some ways that Yale students are negatively by stress:
    • Students are so stressed that they can’t make use of all the good opportunities presented to them.
    • Students are too stressed to enjoy the small pleasures and do things that students love(ex: reading a book).

College Student Mental Health Statistics (2009 Study)

  • 40% of college students report more than the average level of stress
  • About 1/3 of students report being so depressed that it’s difficult to function
  • Over 40% often feel hopeless
  • A little under 50% say they experience overwhelming anxiety
  • Over 50% report often feeling very lonely
  • Over 80% say they fell overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do every day

Psychology and the Good Life Class

  • Laurie Santos created this course to help students understand and deal with stress and anxiety in college
  • There were two parts to the Psychology and the Good Life Course:
    • Understanding positive psychology and how to make the positive changes in your life
    • Actually practicing the good habits (this is important because it’s one thing to understand what you should be doing to improve your mental health, but it’s another to actually implement the key ideas into your own life)
  • This course performed so well that it became the most popular course at Yale.
    • The reason why this course performed so well was because many students were having trouble dealing with their stress and anxiety
  • Important insights that students can take away from the course:
    • Your level of well being can be improved through the correct practices and measures taken to improve it.
    • We think that our life circumstances (such as occupation and salary) matter a lot, but they don’t matter nearly as much as we think
    • Sleep is very important for brain development and well being (and high school and college students aren’t getting enough)
    • It’s important to be aware of the present moment because it enables you to notice and enjoy the good things in your life. This can be practiced with practices like meditation.
    • It’s important to prioritize time over money