This Is Your Brain on University: Mental Health’s Impact on Students’ Studies and Wellbeing

Offering: Intersession 2025

This course will explore how the symptoms of mental illness affect university students’ studies and extra-curricular experiences – covering examples from the mild (exam jitters, procrastination), the moderate (social anxiety in presentations and group work, insomnia) and severe (psychotic breakdowns, severe substance abuse). We will survey the metal disorders that commonly affect students and learn of their diagnosis, prevalence, effect on functional domains such as cognition, and treatments. We will also examine psychological traits that exist outside of mental disorders that can be detrimental at university. Finally, we will explore research on healthy mental and lifestyle habits that can help students’ thrive at university.