The American Psychological Association surveyed 139 college and university counseling centers and found that the number of students that have scheduled appointments has increased 30 percent.
This isn’t surprising given the increase of students experiencing mental and emotional stress. One way college students are coping with this stress is by getting an emotional support animal.
Christine Morano is a senior at Ithaca College who owns an emotional support animal. She adopted a cat one month ago.
“I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression at 17 years old and from that point forward I have been on and off multiple medications and going through cognitive behavioral therapy just to help kind of figure things out,” she shared.
The National Service Animal Registry defines an emotional support animal as “a person's pet that has been prescribed by a person's licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist (any licensed mental health professional). The animal is part of the treatment program for this person and is designed to bring comfort and minimize the negative symptoms of the person's emotional/psychological disability.”
Milo does exactly that for Morano. On top of being a full-time student, she holds a part time job, is applying to grad school, and is studying for her upcoming LSAT exam. Milo, her cat, helps ease her stress from school.
“Milo has changed my life in a lot of ways. I’ve only had him for about a month now but he really does make my day easier,” she said.
Milo helps ease her anxiety by giving her tasks to do. This keeps her organized throughout the day and keeps her on schedule.
“Schedules keep me active, they keep me going, they keep me calm. I think schedules are really important to have especially if you have a lot of anxiety,” she noted.
Morano says medication hasn’t helped her as much as she thought it would and that Milo has helped her cope with her mental health issues.
“Milo helps me in a lot of ways medication can’t. I have been on multiple medications on and off and none of them really seemed to make a difference to me. It takes months for these medications to work even if they do work you never really know unless you try them,” she said.
Morano believes there is a stigma surrounding mental illness and that people who struggle with a mental illness are no different than people who do not.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions about struggling with mental illnesses, anxiety, and depression, and all these things. A lot of people tend to look at me as if there’s something wrong with me or maybe I’m just not all quite there or I struggle a bit more, and it is true that I do struggle a bit more but I live my day just like everyone else and I think there’s a huge stigma surrounding mental illness,” she explained.
While medication is an option, there are other ways people can ease anxiety and depression. Morano believes that medication isn’t the end all be all answer.
“I think the most Important thing at the end of the day for people who are suffering with mental illnesses is that there are options for you out there whether it be medication, getting an emotional support animal, talking to someone, exercising” she said.
Morano is excited to be a “cat mom” and says that Milo has already had a huge impact on her life.
“Of these 4 years I haven’t been as happy then as I have been in this one month with Milo,” She added.