Tests, projects and other common problems can make students feel depressed. However, according to professionals, international students may become depressed from different factors.
Although a variety of factors can cause depression or anxiety in a normal environment, depression could also be aggravated or brought on by adjustment to a new life in a new country.
“Anxiety and depression are associated with how to function in a foreign country,” said Lali McCubbin, a counselor at the Counseling and Consultation Service. “That is a part of normal adjustment to students coming into this country.”
International students can become stressed from their new experiences in a different country — whether it’s setting up a doctor’s appointment or having to buy car insurance.
In the process of adjustment, students may experience language barriers, cultural differences and homesickness. Particularly for those who were highly educated in their home country, once they find themselves struggling with their studies, they might become more depressed.
“I see more often graduate students than undergraduate students,” said Jeeseon Park, a clinical fellow at the Counseling and Consultation Service.
More intensive studies and burden of professional progress might push international graduate students more than undergraduate students, she said.
Ana C. Berrios, a career counselor at Counseling and Consultation Service, pointed out legal problems of staying and having a career in a foreign country. Such problems can also lead to depression.
Depression also seems to arise from identity issues. Park, who was an international student from Korea, got confused about her identity when somebody called her colored, she said.
“Growing up in Korea where it is a homogenous society, I didn’t have much notion about identity, ” Park said.
In helping mentally weak international students, understanding cultural context is very important and is focused in counseling.
“I spent more time understanding where they come from, what their beliefs are and what their cultures are like,” McCubbin said.
Because mental ailments are confused with other conditions such as stomachache, backache and anxiety attacks, students go to either the church or the medical doctor, McCubbin said.
“Mental illness is a shame to Chinese people,” said Dong Xie, a graduate in psychology. “They refer to it as physical illness.”
As an expert in psychology and an international student, he said social support such as family is therapeutic.
But there are obstacles which block international students from getting the social support they need, he said. For instance, it takes time to build new relationships, and high expectations from family members can cause international students to avoid calling their relatives.
Not to mention, expensive phone bills are another obstacle international students face when they try to lean on their family for support, Xie said.
Even though international students tend to regard counseling as an embarrassment, psychologists urged them to seek counseling.
“It is important to look at the center as one resource,” Park said. “It does not imply that you are sick.”
Counselors are there to help students to present their problems and to solve the problems in their own way, McCubbin said.
For those who are still reluctant to come to the center or do not have enough time, the staff recommends to be patient, take rest, participate in activities, meditate and drink green tea.
