Anxiety is a common issue faced by college students, many of whom have never experienced it extensively before. An assessment by the American College Health Association states that 63% of college students experience overwhelming anxiety in the last year, with 23% requiring professional treatment. Anxiety can be defined as the feeling of worry or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. College presents multiple points where uncertainty is high combined with stress and responsibility, causing people to experience anxiety and other psychological distress. Specific periods such as transition into college or end of college looking for a job, midterm and final exams are some examples of anxiety-ridden periods. Factors such as sleep disruption, academic stress, social loneliness may also contribute to heightened risk of anxiety.
The three main points from the Thomas Frank video are:
- Burnout can be characterized by constant exhaustion, lack of motivation, frustration, cynicism, and other symptoms.
- Burnout occurs when dealing with large amounts of stress for prolonged periods common for students. It takes time to arrive to the state of being burnt out. This allows to recognize signs and prevent it.
- To prevent burnout, it is necessary to identify causes. These may be individual, but a study identified that assignment or responsibility overload is responsible for 49% of college students. Meanwhile, 24% identify external issues such as family, time management, financial/job problems.
Frank presents several strategies for addressing burnout, the primary of which is the ability to recognize early signs of its occurrence to address the problems before the exhaustion hits. He suggests evaluating one’s workload and responsibilities and avoiding taking on too much to lead to burnout in the first place. Second, Frank recommends taking care of one’s mental and physical health to avoid overloading it and ensuring that it is able to manage the challenges of a complex schedule. Finally, Frank promotes organization and time management in life to create stability and structure to prevent a chaotic schedule from overwhelming oneself.