Student life: How to overcome negative self-talk and be productive

Students across the country are getting ready for the beginning of the university year.

Whether entering as wide-eyed freshers, or old-hand PHDs, student life presents a period of time unlike any other.It is unique - and I use the word unique with careful consideration, hoping it will imply as much negativity as positivity, writes Your Time therapist Gareth Jones.

Let’s face it, student life can be just as painfully complicated as it can be gloriously liberating.The joys of fleeing the parental nest easily neutralised by the torments of social turbulence and inexperience.

The path to a degree is littered with pitfalls; to call someone a ‘student’ and only imply carefree responsibility-free living is an injustice to the journey, and potentially dangerous to anyone packing bags and setting off for the first time.

Simply put, it’s not easy being a student and to state otherwise is wrong.

As a Rapid Transformational Therapy therapist, a substantial percentage of my clients are either students, or their issues began during their student lives.

Issues like depression, anxiety, drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling, gaming addiction, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, phobias and low self-esteem.

For a student, there is a lot at stake, and it’s not just about obtaining a qualification, which then allows them to enter into the limbo of job hunting. And let’s be honest, a degree is no longer a sure guarantee of a job, let alone a ‘good’ job.

For a high percentage of students, a three year commitment to an undergraduate course is a three year delay to eventual unemployment.

But there is also a big pink elephant in the room, regarding student mental health, and it is very seldom acknowledged.