LONDON: Former business student Greg used to resort to drink and drugs to get to sleep — a common story at British universities struggling to adapt to growing concerns about student mental health problems.
“I was super, super depressed,” Greg, now aged 26, told AFP.
Around half of the 37,500 students interviewed by The Insight Network, a therapy provider, used drugs and alcohol “as a means of coping with difficulties in their lives.”
One in five reported suffering from mental health issues, mostly depression and anxiety, according to the survey conducted at 140 British universities.
In Greg’s case, it was a combination of factors at play, including the disappointment of not liking his course and coping with having more time on his hands.
The end of a five-year relationship, on top of the death of his grandparents, however, made things even worse, he said, asking not to be identified by his full name.
Dominique Thompson, a doctor who has treated students for 20 years, said their anxiety could be debilitating and was “not about feeling a bit stressed about exams.”
“They would not be able to go out with friends, to go to their lectures, to study, to read... they stop socializing, leaving their room,” she said.
And students with depression sometimes develop “suicidal thinking,” she warned.
Over the last decade, the proportion of British students reporting mental disorders has “significantly increased,” according to a study.
From 0.4 percent in 2008, the figure rose to 3.1 percent last year, the study of nearly 2.3 million students published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency indicated.
However, “we do not know how much of this increase is due to increased awareness of mental health conditions, the willingness of students to report such conditions, or a genuine increase in the prevalence of mental health conditions,” the agency said in written comments to AFP.
Jolted into action, the government announced in March the creation of a new working group “to support students to deal with the challenges” of starting in higher education.
“Our universities are world leading in so many areas and I want them to be the best for mental health support too,” Education Secretary Damian Hinds said at the time.
Students often impose “extremely high, often unrealistic, expectations” on themselves and have difficulty coping with failure, said Andrew Hill, director of a wellbeing research group at York St. John University.
There is also anxiety associated with “seeing mistakes in your work, or that others will spot mistakes you have made,” he told AFP.
Social media, with its visibility and reach, has also contributed to the pressure on young people, said Thompson.
“Cake baking is now a competition, putting on makeup is a competition, sewing, painting, sculpture...
“You name almost anything that could have been fun and relaxing, it’s now become a competition,” she said.
“They’re ... 24/7 under the microscope because of their social media.”
The doctor also said that the rise in student mental disorders was an international phenomenon.
She said students also battled the feeling that it was “no longer enough” to have a university degree because they were now so common.
Another factor can be “helicopter parents,” who micro-manage their children’s busy activity-packed routines while they are still at school, leaving them at a loss once they have to manage on their own, she said.
The experts say that universities need to implement new strategies to help struggling students.
Non-competitive activities just “for fun” should be introduced, as well as teaching students how to deal with failure, said Thompson.
For his part, Hill urged tutors to receive “basic mental literacy training” to “recognize the signs and symptoms” of potential disorders.
Greg remembers asking for help when he was a 20-year-old student at a top London university in 2013, but said that the process took “so long” he gave up.
“They recommended books, numbers to call and asked if I wanted a chat,” he recalled.
“They eventually get back to me between eight and 10 weeks after I contacted them. It was very frustrating.”
Some universities have recently taken up new approaches.
“Like many universities, we tended to focus on the point when they needed additional support,” said Mark Ames, head of student services at the University of Bristol.
Shocked by the suicides of nine of its students since 2016, the institution set up two services, made up of around 60 staff, who “focus on supporting students’ wellbeing,” such as encouraging them to get more sleep.
It is also reviewing how often it tests students and its examinations schedules to “make sure they don’t all bunch at the same time.”
However, it was recently in the headlines after the parents of one of the nine — Natasha Abrahart, 20, a physics student who was found hanged last year — accused the university of failing to do enough.
Birmingham University meanwhile told AFP that it was “actively working” on developing a “single strategic framework,” to replace its case-by-case approach.
Greg said that the approach to mental health at many universities had changed radically since his own experience.
After a five-year “break,” he has returned to university to study geology.
Britain wakes up to student mental health plight
Britain wakes up to student mental health plight
- One in five reported suffering from mental health issues, mostly depression and anxiety, according to the survey conducted at 140 British universities
- The proportion of British students reporting mental disorders has ‘significantly increased’ over the last decade
Authorities seize ailing alligator kept illegally in New York home’s swimming pool
- The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator
- The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications
NEW YORK: An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental conservation police officers seized the 750-pound (340-kilogram), 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) alligator on Wednesday from a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator and allowed people, including children, to get into the water with the reptile, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications, among other health issues. The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place is found where it can receive permanent care, according to a release from the agency.
The owner’s state license to keep the alligator expired in 2021. The state determined at that time the alligator’s holding area failed to meet safety standards. Officers took action this week after learning the “extent at which the owner was seriously endangering the public,” according to a statement from the agency.
State environmental officials haven’t decided whether to bring charges.
Officials believe a lethargic 4-foot (1.2-meter) alligator found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023 was likely an abandoned pet.
McDonald’s hit by system failure at Asian outlets
- In Japan, the US fast food giant said it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”
TOKYO: Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on cellphones and at electronic kiosks on Friday after a system outage.
In Japan, the US fast food giant said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”.
China was also affected for several hours, with the outage a hot topic on social media platform Weibo, but the firm later said its online ordering system had been fully restored.
McDonald’s in Hong Kong wrote on Facebook that its “mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning” but later said its system was “gradually returning to normal”.
Singapore was also hit, as were Australia and New Zealand according to media reports.
India, Indonesia and Thailand were unaffected.
‘Miracle’ birth on Jordan-London flight thanks to junior doctor
- Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action to deliver baby after crew appealed for help
- ‘I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all’
LONDON: A “miracle” baby has been born on a flight from Jordan to the UK thanks to the help of a junior doctor, Metro newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Wizz Air flight from Amman to London’s Luton Airport recorded an extra passenger in the manifest after Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action and helped deliver the newborn.
Two hours into the flight, a pregnant woman on board went into labor, with the crew appealing for a doctor to help.
Khan, who had been holidaying in Jordan with friends, used his experience working at Basildon Hospital’s neonatal resuscitation unit.
He said: “I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed — which would include a neonatal-sized oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a stethoscope — none of which they had on a plane, of course.”
But the lack of equipment did not deter Khan who, with the help of a fellow passenger to translate Arabic, delivered the baby girl using only towels.
The flight was diverted to Italy’s Brindisi Airport so the mother and newborn could receive postpartum medical care.
The family later contacted Khan to thank him and report the good health of mother and child, which he said caused “a big sigh of relief.”
His employers “were very impressed,” he added. “My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job.
“People were saying it was miraculous — I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all.”
It is just the 75th instance in aviation history of a baby being born on a commercial flight. The rarity can be attributed to medical guidance, which recommends that pregnant women avoid flying past the 36-week mark, or 32 weeks with twins or triplets.
Several births have taken place on flights in recent years. In 2017, a baby was given free air tickets for life after being born on a flight from Saudi Arabia to India.
Princess Kate says sorry for manipulated family photo, saying she was experimenting with editing
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, has apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace.
In a post on social media, Kate said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” the post said.
The Associated Press and other news agencies withdrew the photo of Kate and children George, Charlotte and Louis, which was issued by Kensington Palace on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day in Britain. It appeared to have been manipulated, in violation of AP photo guidelines.
The palace said the photo was taken by Prince William.
It was the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months ago, and followed weeks of speculation about her whereabouts. Designed to quell speculation, it has sparked even more conjecture.
2 women drove a man’s body to a bank to withdraw his money, US police say
- The two women were charged in court with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class
ASHTABULA, Ohio: Two Ohio women have been accused of driving the body of a deceased 80-year-old man to a bank to withdraw money from his account before dropping his body off at a hospital.
Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, were charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class, according to Ashtabula Municipal Court records.
Police said they were called Monday evening and told that two women had dropped off a body at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room without identifying the person or themselves. A few hours later, one of them contacted the hospital with information on the deceased, who was then identified as 80-year-old Douglas Layman of Ashtabula.
Officers responded to Layman’s residence and made contact with Casbohm and Feralo, who told them they had found Layman deceased earlier at the home where all three resided. Police allege that, with the help of a third unnamed person, they placed Layman in the front seat of his car and drove to a bank where they withdrew “an undisclosed amount of money” from his account.
Layman’s body “was placed in the vehicle in such a manner that he would be visible to bank staff in order to make the withdrawal,” Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said in a news release Thursday. Stell told the (Ashtabula) Star Beacon that the bank ”had allowed this previously as long as they were accompanied by him.”
Lt. Mike Palinkas told WEWS-TV that one of the women had been in a live-in relationship with Layman for several years while the other had been staying there for a few months. The women said it was normal for them to take money from the account, but Palinkas said he didn’t have a full explanation for why they went there that day.
“Allegedly, they wanted to pay some bills but outside of that, there wasn’t a specific motivation provided,” Palinkas said.
Casbohm was arraigned and ordered held on $5,000 bond while Feralo is scheduled for arraignment next week. It’s unclear whether they have attorneys; numbers listed in their names had been disconnected. A message was sent to the county public defender’s office seeking comment if the office was defending one or both.
Police said they continue to investigate and other charges are possible. The coroner’s office said an autopsy to determine the cause of Layman’s death could take up to eight months.