Awareness
If you are experiencing a life-threatening or medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention, you should contact University Police immediately at (757) 594–7777.
Counselors are also available 24 hours a day to respond to psychological emergencies. If you experience a psychological emergency during normal business hours, you may visit or call our office to see or speak with a counselor. Our office works in close collaboration with University Police and other offices in situations that require crisis response and they will contact our on-call counselor.
- Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. — 43.8 million, or 18.5% — experiences mental illness in a given year.
- Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. — 9.8 million, or 4.0% — experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
- Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.
- 1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.
- 2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.
- 6.9% of adults in the U.S. — 16 million — had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.
- 18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.
- Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5% — 10.2 million adults — had a co-occurring mental illness.
- An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
- Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have “a recent history” of a mental health condition.
- 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.
- Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.
- Just over half (50.6%) of children with a mental health condition aged 8–15 received mental health services in the previous year.
- African Americans and Hispanic Americans each use mental health services at about one-half the rate of caucasian Americans and Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.
- Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays — sometimes decades — between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.
- Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.
- Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults aged 18–44.
- Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions. Adults in the U.S. living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to treatable medical conditions.
- Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14–21 and older who are served by special education drop out — the highest dropout rate of any disability group.
- Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death for people aged 10–34.
- More than 90% of people who die by suicide show symptoms of a mental health condition.
- Each day an estimated 18–22 veterans die by suicide.
- Meditate: Sites such as Calm or Meditainment offer guided meditation and relaxation resources
- Deep breathing: These three deep breathing exercises can help you relax and reduce stress.
- The stimulating breath: Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed but relaxed. Your breaths in and out should be equal in duration, but as short as possible. This is a noisy breathing exercise.
- Try for three in-and-out breath cycles per second. This produces a quick movement of the diaphragm, suggesting a bellows. Breathe normally after each cycle.
- Do not do for more than 15 seconds on your first try. Each time you practice the stimulating breath, you can increase your time by five seconds or so, until you reach a full minute.
- The 4–7–8 breathing exercise:
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
- Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
- Hold your breath for a count of seven.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
- This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
- Breath Counting:
- To begin the exercise, count “one” to yourself as you exhale.The next time you exhale, count “two,” and so on up to “five.”
- Then begin a new cycle, counting “one” on the next exhalation.
- Try to do 10 minutes of this form of meditation.
- Think about happy memories: What are those times that really encouraged you and lifted you up? Hanging out with friends? A trip that you took? Childhood memories? Reflect on those good times.
- Talk to a friend: You can receive encouragement by talking with a friend or family member. You don’t have to share everything with them. Let them know how they can support you.
- Go outside: Take a walk around campus. Clear your mind by visiting the garden in the Ferguson Center, JR Courts, the picnic tables on East Campus or other quiet places. The Noland Trail and Lionsgate Bridge also offer relaxing spaces.
- Exercise: The Freeman Center offers modern fitness equipment, fitness assessments and dozens of fitness classes such as Pilates, yoga and Zumba. These classes can provide a great avenue to relieve stress.
- Write in a journal: Write down your daily experiences and share it with others.
Yale Urology has developed resources and launched initiatives to focus on holistic resident well-being, implementing the eight dimensions of well-being as depicted in the “Wellness Wheel.”
- Intellectual wellness - The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning.
- Emotional Wellness - Our ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner.
- Occupational Wellness - Our desire to contribute to our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society as a whole.
- Environmental Wellness - The ability to make a positive impact on our environment, be it in our workplace, our communities or our planet.
- Financial Wellness - Our ability to understand our financial situation and taking care of it in such a way that you are prepared for financial changes.
- Spiritual Wellness - The ability to develop congruency between values and actions and realize a common purpose that binds creation together.
- Physical Wellness - The ability to recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness and adopting healthy habits (routine check-ups, balanced diets, exercise) while avoiding destructive ones.
- Social Wellness - Our ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, and co-workers.
Sources: National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), Stamp Out Stigma