What is mental health?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.1
Mental health affects daily life, interpersonal relationships and physical health.
Maintaining mental health can improve a person’s ability to enjoy life. In order to do this, you need to maintain a balance of activities, responsibilities and efforts in your daily life to achieve a good mental state.
Emotions such as stress, depression, and anxiety all affect mental health and disrupt a person ’s life routine.
For further information about mental health, you can visit the official website of NHS.
Mental health issues on international students
With increasing pressure and the development of an increasingly difficult education system, students’ mental health generally declined. Especially for international students, they are under greater pressure to live in a new country completely different from their hometown, while also struggling with cultural shock and even language barriers.
Many international students are afraid to admit that they have a mental illness because the culture they come from may have a negative attitude and belief in mental health. One reason is that in such a society, people’s awareness of mental health literacy is very low. The reasons for the lack may include a lack of organizations concerned with mental health, a low awareness of students’ psychological problems in schools and government departments.
In a new environment and new culture, international students are likely to feel lost. International students are not familiar with the operation of the British medical system. They are not sure about the location of medical institutions inside or outside the school. Student medical insurance even makes the distinction between clinics and hospitals more complicated. But in fact, “worry about others, friends or family members will make negative comments on them, or do not like them or show disapproval of them”, is the main reason for the anxiety of international students.
What caused mental disorders of international students?
The general factors leading to a decline in the mental health of international students include cultural shock, language barrier, homesick, loneliness and isolation. However, if the student has experienced some bad things in his / her previous life, such as natural disasters, domestic violence and so on, which has caused his / her psyche to be hurt, then when facing the difficulty of becoming an international student, it may be more likely to encounter psychological problem.
“What we see is what we have learned”, and we have learned to deal with problems in a similar way to others. The use of substances such as alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs plays an important role in deteriorating people’s mental health and physical health.
Stress is a very important factor. The pressures associated with learning are common to international students. When homework and exams come, this is when stress and mental health symptoms are more likely to occur. For example, when the stress of people experiencing depression increases, these depressive symptoms are more likely to increase. International students have put a lot of pressure on themselves, and they may also face pressure from their families to get good results at the same time.
What will be affected by mental issues?
Their identity: The way they see themselves will change, and they will also care more about what others think of themselves. They will become sensitive because of other people’s ideas, confused about their identity, and shy to seek help because they are afraid of being isolated.
Their studies: For international students, learning is their top priority, but when they encounter psychological problems, their learning ability, problem-solving ability, ability to communicate with people, teamwork and independent work ability will be affected.
Their social lives: When mental health is affected, people’s ability to communicate with others is affected. For international students, it is already difficult to be in an environment with different cultural backgrounds. They will become afraid to communicate with local students and lose their social skills.
Their physical health: When encountering psychological problems, some international students choose to use drugs, which can relieve stress on the surface, but it will certainly cause greater harm to the body. Some students are unable to maintain normal living habits when they suffer from psychological problems, and no longer exercise, causing their physical health to collapse.
The importance of keeping mental health up
Please note that there is no 100% positive mental state in this world, and even the most optimistic state of mind may experience tough moments, so maintaining mental health is to maintain emotional balance and avoid negative emotions from eroding health.
In fact, from the statistical data, the proportion of international students and local students with psychological problems is very close, the only difference is that international students are in a new environment that is not familiar, which makes them more likely to encounter problems, such as feeling lost, helplessness, homesickness or other concerns, these are situations that local students are not likely to encounter. However, these problems will continue to accumulate as the learning pressure in schools increases, making mental health problems a major difficulty for international students.
Maintaining mental health can make international life easier for international students, so if you are facing any psychological problems, don’t hesitate, please seek help immediately. It may be helpful to chat with someone you trust, including yours teachers, parents, good friends or psychotherapists.
Here is a video that may help you understand the mental health issues of international students better:
- https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response [↩]