Mental health on college campuses - Yale Example

  • Students at Yale can’t get the most of their experience because of stress
  • Students are often too stressed and busy to focus on the little things in their life and do the things they enjoy
  • Students don’t talk about the things that are bothering them

Statistics for college students around the nation - 2009

  • 40% of college students report more than average level of stress
  • 30% of students report that they are too depressed to function
  • Over 40% say they feel hopeless a lot of the time
  • Just under 50% say they experience overwhelming anxiety (up to 60% in 2017)
  • Over 50% report feeling very lonely a lot of the time

  • Over 80% say they feeld overwhelemed by alll they have to do all the time

  • The science of psychology, neurocience, and other mind science can help u
    • Positive psychology: study happy people to see what they do and what works
    • Behaviorial science: how do we make choices, form habits, and behave better

Psychology and the Good Life Course

  • Helps students with their mental helath
  • Course with two different parts:
    • Science of the good life: positive pyschology, how to make changes, etc
    • Practice of the good life: learn how to incorporate the practices into life
  • Things to do to feel happier (gratitdue, social connection, mindfulness) put in the syllabus
  • 1 of every 4 students at Yale take this class
  • We can control our happiness a lot more than we think
  • About 50% of happiness is controlled by genes, but you can control the other 50% as well
  • People think that to be happy:
    • you have to get rid of all the negative things in your life and start new
    • have a good job with good salary
  • Life circumstances aren’t the whole picture to your happiness
    • ex: winning the lottery may make you temporarily happy but not forever, and it doesn’t make you as happy as you think
  • You can become happiner, you have to put in a lot of effort and time every day of your life or it wont happen
  • Your mind may lie to you about what makes you happy: we think that if you get want you will be happy(money, bigger house, nicer car, etc), but it doesn’t make you as happy as expected and you just end up wanting more and more

What can you do to be a little bit happier?

  • Make time for social connections, instead of being alone prioritize and spend time with others (family, friends, even strangers)
    • spending time with others increases your happiness, while not spending itme with others can decrease it
    • in most cases it doesn’t decrease your productivity
  • Helping others helps us more than we expect
    • you might think that you want to treat yourself, but treating others may bring you more happiness
    • a study shows that spending even a little bit of money on others instead of yourself increases happiness
  • Make time for gratitude every day
    • most people spend time think about the negatives in their life instead of the positives
    • wirte down things you are grateful for every day
    • express your gratitude to those who you are grateful for, both you and the other person will have a surge of happiness and wellbeing
  • Healthy practices matter
    • exercise: half our of cardio a day is somestimes equivalent to taking the top anti depressant(zoloft), cardio in the morning will bump up your mood for over 24 hours
    • sleep: sleep is very important, without sleep your mood can drop to similar levels of sadness to depression
  • Taking time to be in the present moment
    • savor the present moment, take time to realize where you are(how you feel, how you are breathing, and other small things you tend not to notice)
    • people spend about 50% of the time not in the present moment
    • when your mind wanders to anything besides the present moment, your wellbeing is less good than when you are in the moment
    • meditation: doing this for 10 minutes a day can change your brain
  • Become wealthy in terms of time
    • people who have time are happier than those who are in time famine
    • do you value time or money more? people who prioritize time over money are more happy

Many people started to notice the Psychology and the Good Life Course. It shows how everyone, not just Yale students, need to think more broadly about changing the culture of stress and people need to be happier. - Online, free version of Psychology and the Good Life Course - Put the above insights into practice

Gratitude list - I’m grateful for…

  • My family and friends
  • My cats
  • Being fortunate enough to live in a house with water, heating, ac, etc
  • Being able to go to school and get an education