By Will Wright | Assistant News Editor

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People have different opinions on the prevalence and severity of depression, but an expert says depression affects many college students and that levels of depression are rising.

Yet, the freedom of college can make coping with depression easier, especially if the person seeks help from somewhere like a counseling center, said Linda Hellmich, a psychologist with the UK Counseling Center.

“There’s something about that separation (from home) that allows you to try new things, including mental health therapy,” Hellmich said. “It’s like a way of helping them get their own life back.”

The UK Counseling Center treated about 1,400 people last year, 20 percent of whom reported self-harming behaviors and 25 percent who considered suicide within the past six months of being asked, she said.

Economics junior Elden Winkelman thinks the amount of interaction between college students can make coping with depression easier and harder at the same time.

“For most people, (college) makes it easier,” Winkelman said. “But for someone who doesn’t get involved it could be harder. You have to make an effort.”

Some think social perceptions of depression are changing, but that there are still many people who do not consider depression a serious problem.

“People that haven’t experienced it or have had a friend who has doesn’t realize it’s an issue,” Winkelman said. “But if you’ve experienced it or had a family member who has experienced it you’ll realize it’s a real issue.”

Hellmich said part of the problem is that depression is not something visible.

“It is physiological, but it’s not something that’s easily calibrated,” Hellmich said. “There are certainly certain factions of people that have the ‘buck up’ mentality.”

However, Hellmich believes that more education and medical testing have led to a better understanding of depression amongst the public.

“There’s a wider understanding that depression is a disease,” Hellmich said. “Doctors routinely screen for depression, and I think that has moved depression into the mainstream as a disease which needs to be addressed.”

Winkelman said there are many people who still don’t understand the severity of the disease.

“People say, ‘you should just get over it,’ when in reality it has to do with more than just being upset for a day,” she said.

Though Hellmich thinks that there are groups of people who still look down on receiving mental health therapy, the number of people who share that idea is decreasing.

“There’s an increasing acceptance of receiving help if you need it,” Hellmich said. “In more and more ways it’s being normalized as a resource on campus.”

Of the 1,400 people treated by the counseling center, about 8 percent of them were hospitalized previously for mental health reasons, she said. About the same amount have attempted suicide at least once.

Hellmich said working with people to overcome their illness is rewarding, and she wants to do as good a job for other people’s children and she would want done for her own.

“There are times where you absolutely change the course of somebody’s life,” Hellmich said. “The college age is a really opportune time to do that.”

The work done by the university to promote mental health led to the Jed Foundation, an organization that works to prevent suicide among college students,  awarding UK the JedCampus Seal for its efforts earlier this month.

Hellmich said a college that promotes mental health is a college where people are most likely to excel in their work and question the social stigmas that society puts on things like mental health care.

“If they receive help, they are more likely to succeed,” Hellmich said. “There’s a freedom to question things when you come to college.”

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