MENTAL HEALTH OF FINNISH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - A PSYCHIATRIC STUDY OF FRESHMEN

A study was begun in the Fall of 1965 concerning the need for psychiatric treatment and mental health counselling among Finnish university students. The project comprises psychiatric, somatico-medical, psychological and sociological investigations. Students who had started their studies in four universities or technical and commercial colleges at the university level in Helsinki at the beginning of the Fall semester 1965, were to be followed up by means of a random sample consisting of 284 students. 269 agreed to come for the first psychiatric examination, undertaken by six psychiatrists. - Signs of mental disturbance were found in 23 per cent of the students. In most cases, neurotic disturbances of a comparatively mild degree were involved. The disturbances were more prevalent among women than among men, more prevalent among students coming from cities and towns than among those coming from rural areas and more prevalent among those who had graduated from girls' schools than among those who had graduated from boys' schools or coeducational schools. Treatment (mainly psychotherapy) was thought to be urgently needed in 2.6 per cent of the sample and would probably have been beneficial to 16 per cent. In 1965, 1.2 per cent of the students in Helsinki consulted psychiatrists of the Students' Health Service. The present study seems to suggest that the facilities for psychiatric treatment available for university students are not adequate at present. It would also be important to develop the mental health counselling services further. © 1968 Springer-Verlag.