Mental Health in Students

🧭 When to suspect

Students – at school, college and especially university – are at a developmentally high-risk life stage. The peak age of onset for many serious mental illnesses overlaps the student years; first-episode psychosis most commonly emerges between 16 and 30. The transition to university is itself a recognised trigger: leaving home, new academic and financial pressures, and the loss of established support networks all land at once.

Suspect a mental health problem in any student presenting with a change in academic performance, social withdrawal, a change in mood or behaviour, disturbed sleep, or simply feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope. Presentations are often somatic (fatigue, headaches, abdominal pain) or indirect (repeated attendances, or requests for sick notes and extensions).

Actively screen for the common and serious conditions in this group: depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance (alcohol and drug) misuse, self-harm and suicidal thoughts, and psychosis. Ask directly about self-harm and suicide in every at-risk presentation – asking about suicide does not plant the idea or increase risk.

Source: NICE NG222 · NICE NG225