College students are reporting lower rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts than they did in 2023 and 2022, according to this year’s Healthy Minds Study, indicating a trend towards improved mental health on campus. While still alarmingly high, the findings are a welcome change in direction after more than a decade of increases in student distress across the board.  

“People should take heart in the small trends we are seeing, but at the same time, the levels are still quite high,” said Daniel Eisenberg, Ph.D., one of the principal investigators on the study. “I think the main message here is that things may be getting a little better, but we need to continue our efforts on many fronts.”

The Healthy Minds Study is the nation’s largest survey of student mental health. This year’s results, based on responses from more than 84,000 students across 135 colleges and universities, show severe depression symptoms have dropped to 18 percent, down from 23 percent in 2022. Suicidal ideation has fallen to 11 percent, down from 15 percent in 2022. Moderate to severe anxiety symptoms fell from 37 percent in 2022 to 32 percent in 2025. 

The survey once again shows disparities among student groups in both prevalence and help-seeking behaviors. Students who identify as transgender and gender expansive reported significantly higher rates of mental health problems, with 66 percent experiencing depression and 32 percent reporting suicidal ideation in the past year.  

L.G.B.T.Q. students also face elevated risks, with 52 percent reporting depression compared to 32 percent of heterosexual students. Meanwhile, white students with positive depression or anxiety screens were more likely to access clinical mental health treatment than their Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian peers with similar symptoms. Perception that mental health services are “too expensive” as well as time constraints emerged as major barriers to seeking help. 

"I think the main message here is that things may be getting a little better, but we need to continue our efforts on many fronts."

Eisenberg and Sarah Ketchen Lipson, Ph.D. have been principal investigators on the Healthy Minds Study since its first release in 2007. Their research has been instrumental in gauging the voracity of what has been coined the “student mental health crisis.” Their data, showing year over year increases in distress among college students, sounded alarms on campuses around the country, including in 2021, when they reported that rates of depression and anxiety had doubled since 2010.  

“For years, we braced ourselves when the Healthy Minds Study was released,” said Zoe Ragouzeos, Ph.D., vice president of Student Mental Health and Wellbeing at New York University. “The challenges were already painfully visible in our counseling centers, but year after year, the Healthy Minds data made clear that these struggles weren’t isolated. They were a national reality.” 

While they are well-known in college mental health for the significant snapshot they provide, Eisenberg and Lipson’s parsing and interpretation of the data has helped practitioners and campus leaders understand more about the complexities of student behavior and institutional support. Eisenberg explained that while concerns around unmet demand for clinical services often dominate responses to the prevalence numbers, there is far more to the story than just students vying for counseling center appointments.  

“When we say that a certain percentage of students are reporting some level of depressive symptoms, it doesn’t mean that all of them need to get clinical services, and it doesn’t mean all of them are in crisis,” he said. “There is an entire array of students who are somewhere on the continuum of mental health need. Most would benefit from resources of some kind — peer support groups, mental health apps, mindfulness programs. They would also benefit from more supportive environments, whether it be in the classroom or with peers or with other professionals on campus.”

The study indicated that use of therapy, counseling, and psychiatric medication has remained stable. According to the 2024 to 2025 report, about 37 percent of students received therapy, and 30 percent took psychiatric medication. Eisenberg pointed out that an array of other services — many of them preventative — are less utilized by students on campus. 

“For the most part, the more preventative type of resources seem to attract only a small sliver of the student population — for a variety of reasons,” he said. “Maybe they’re not engaging enough. Maybe they’re not as well connected to the infrastructure to remind students they are available. We have this massive number of students with a diverse range of needs, and we also have this massive set of resources.” 

Dr. Zoe Ragouzeos agrees and pointed to the need to create supportive environments for all students.  

“While it’s critical to match students with the right level of care, we also need to step back and look at the campus ecosystem as a whole. Prevention isn’t just about apps or workshops. It is about building a culture where faculty, staff, and peers all play a role in noticing when a student is struggling and responding with empathy, kindness, and knowledge of what to say and where to direct students for care,” Ragouzeos said.

“When we create an environment where conversations about mental health and wellbeing are normalized, we reduce stigma and make it easier for students to access the wide range of resources available to them.”

You can reach LearningWell Editor Marjorie Malpiede at mmalpiede@learningwellmag.org with comments, ideas, or tips.