College Student Depression and Anxiety Fall for Third Year Running

Amid a steady drumbeat of headlines about a youth mental-health crisis, one of the largest surveys of college students offers a genuinely hopeful signal. The Healthy Minds Study, results of which were shared on 19 September 2025, found that depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among US college students have continued to improve for a third consecutive year since 2022.

The numbers are striking. Moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms fell from 44 percent of students in 2022 to 37 percent in 2025, while severe depression dropped from 23 to 18 percent. Moderate-to-severe anxiety declined from 37 to 32 percent. The share of students who seriously considered suicide in the past year fell from 15 to 11 percent, and reported high levels of loneliness dropped from 58 to 52 percent. The study drew on responses from more than 84,000 students across 135 colleges and universities.

"These sustained reductions tell me this is not a blip," said Justin Heinze, an associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, describing the findings as "a promising counter-narrative" to the prevailing concern about young people's mental health. Researchers point to expanded campus counseling, greater openness about mental health and a recovery from the acute disruptions of the pandemic years as likely contributors.

Caveats are important. This is a self-reported survey of students at participating institutions, not a randomized study, and the figures reflect the US college population specifically rather than all young people. Rates remain higher than many would like, and the survey does not by itself explain what is driving the improvement. Even so, three straight years of movement in the right direction is meaningful — and a welcome reminder that mental-health trends are not destined only to worsen.