Corona plunges students into a crisis - psychological counseling centers at Bavaria's universities are overrun

Created: 02/24/2022, 17:38

By: Cornelia Schramm

At home and not in the lecture hall, Bavarian students have been studying for four semesters now.

The lessons are also held online, but social contacts are neglected - and that is also noticeable in the psyche.

© dpa/Sina Schuldt

Corona is slowing down the lives of three million students in Germany - with sometimes serious consequences.

Loneliness, fears and depression have become part of everyday life for many students - a self-help group in Munich is trying to help them.

Munich – Monday, 7:30 p.m.: Eight faces pop up on Eva Stöttner’s screen.

The 26-year-old is a mentor for students for whom the pandemic is more than just a challenge.

They feel like they are caught in a hamster wheel of online classes, loneliness, self-doubt and fears about the future.

Like every Monday, Stöttner asks the digital round: “How are you?

What did you experience?”.

Everyone tells what is bothering them.

The word "man" is forbidden, instead participants should say "I".

"I now have my own group for the first time," says Stöttner, who is studying psychology for a master's degree at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

These 90 minutes every Monday, which are held for three months, do not count as therapy.

"Students want to help other students here," says Stöttner.

The idea came up in autumn 2020 for the second online semester in a row.

Three students from psychology and medicine volunteered their help through the “Campus for Change” association.

"We are now nine team members," says Stöttner.

"And the demand among students is increasing."

Stöttner's group members wish to remain anonymous.

The fear of being mocked is too great.

Students keep reporting that they feel forgotten by politics.

They don't have any real problems anyway - that's the prevailing opinion in society.

Live with mom and dad?

A gift!

exam anxiety?

Stay calm!

Lonely?

Then do something!

Afraid of Corona?

Everyone has them!

Munich: Self-help group wants to help students with depressive symptoms

But after four online semesters, the problems can no longer be pushed away so easily.

40 percent of the students suffer from depressive symptoms, half fear that they will not be able to cope with the material.

According to a Forsa survey carried out on behalf of the commercial health insurance company in the fall, the majority are very demotivated.

Michael Noghero from the Studentenwerk Augsburg can only confirm this: "Since the end of 2021, the demand for psychological counseling has skyrocketed.

Before the pandemic, the waiting time for an appointment was about four weeks - currently eight or longer.

"The students have depressive symptoms, such as lack of joy, problems concentrating, feelings of meaninglessness and psychosomatic complaints." The latter range from insomnia to loss of appetite, outbreaks of sweating, tremors and irritable bowel syndrome.

2G or 3G?

Presence, hybrid learning or online?

At the beginning of this semester, for the fourth time, students were again faced with the question of how to proceed.

"Many people find it difficult to always be in limbo," says Stöttner, "because the start of adult life is so unpredictable." The internship, the semester abroad, the master's degree or starting a career - nobody knows when and if that will work.

There are students who until now have only studied from their children's room.

"They can't afford to move to Munich to study online," says Stöttner.

This inability to fly then feels like failure.

And if you live hundreds of kilometers away, you are also emotionally far away from the university.

The days have no structure.

The hamster wheel turns.

LMU-WeCare: Munich University expands advisory services for students

Others live on site.

Without events, however, they were unable to make any contacts – loneliness torments them.

"We attribute the rapidly increasing demand to the contact bans," says Michael Noghero.

"We have been dealing with microtrauma for two years, the effects of which are only now being felt." There are also students who have to process their experiences after a corona infection.

"Those with post-Covid symptoms are heavily burdened, but so are people who are not allowed to be vaccinated for health reasons."

Psychological counseling will therefore continue to be urgently needed.

Even if the universities (or individual departments) offer face-to-face courses again in the summer, as the former Science Minister Bernd Sibler (CSU) had already announced.

The LMU has already expanded its contact points - to 70 offers, including "Campus for Chance".

"Many mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety develop in young adulthood," says Eva Stöttner.

"But you can also intercept a lot." In the next few weeks, two new self-help groups will therefore start.

One of them in English.

The group has at least two advantages: It is a remedy against loneliness and a place to come together - and that is good for everyone.