Did you know that 75 percent of mental health conditions appear before the age of 24? Also, one in every four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have a diagnosable mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
To help people identify and treat mental illness, Northern Arizona University’s Health Promotions will offer a free mental health screening for students seeking help with mental illnesses from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Health Promotions Office in the Health and Learning Center.
No appointment is necessary for the mental health screening. Instead, students can walk in and be given an assessment with questions about mental health history, lifestyle history and thoughts and feelings on daily behaviors. After the assessment, students will meet one-on-one with NAU health professionals to discuss the next step in improving their mental health.
It is important to improve mental health while in the early stages, since the National Institute of Mental Health reports that 30 percent of college students have felt too depressed to function within the last year.
A few signs someone might need to identify a mental illness is when they experience changes in appetite, inability to sleep or oversleep, loss of energy, restlessness and deep feelings of sadness. For more information on symptoms and how to help a friend, visit the Health Promotions website.