Are you considered a freak of nature, if perhaps, one would be standing in the Burger King line with eyes about explode over a phone conversation? Then your turn to order comes up and you put your phone to your chest and calmly ask for a triple stacker and fries? Yes, but the good thing is most of us can be just as neurotic.

Breaking down emotionally at school, at work, or in public could be a sign that you may be obscuring your emotions.

At first getting frustrated wasn’t a big deal. You get mad, slam your bedroom door and then you get over it.

Trying to balance school, schoolwork, work-work, bills, family life and my personal life has left me with no time to inhale, think of a happy place and then exhale in order to mind the well-care of my mental and physical health.

Stress and/or anxiety can sometimes cause depression. Depression and/or sadness are the top concerns when students come in for psychological services, said Bert Epstein- Director of Psychological Counseling Services here at Sacramento State University.

With more than 10 years experience working with college students and two years here at Sac State, Epstein details that depression and sadness have very significant impacts on academic performance. When students are experiencing these symptoms they may find it harder to concentrate while in class, doing their homework, trouble attending classes and showing up for work.

Epstein goes on to say that at Sac State about 1000 students (one out of 28) a year is being regularly treated in the counseling department for various reasons surrounding stress, anxiety and or depression. Furthermore, studies have shown that college students who come in for counseling services have higher GPA’s, and are more likely to stay in school.

Because of recent explosive break downs, I recently decided to pay a visit to our school’s Student Health Center located on the second floor of the Health Center and also available in Student Health Connection located in the University Union, for a walk-in counseling session with a psychologist.

There wasn’t much of a wait time to see a counselor. After filling out some consent forms and a health questionnaire, I was seen within 10 minutes. The counselor was very polite and attentive, she asked me some questions about what brought me in, and we pretty much spent the rest of the session conversing about the things that cause me to become angry or stressed.

Life can be so dramatized, it’s like a bad Moesha rerun. But, we as students have to remember that we have a lot of responsibility on our plate. Some of us are the last bastion of hope for our family’s future, we have the right to freak out.

Many times, stress can be brought on by not talking about these types of troubles and can progress into anger and sometimes depression from keeping these thoughts bottled up. Epstein expresses that these symptoms can also be caused by lack of exercise, poor dieting and/or lack of nutrition, not getting enough sleep and or too much sleep.

Some signs to look for, when in question of whether you or a friend’s stress/sadness may be causing more than just a hassle: Lack of interest in normal activities, sleeping more/less often than usual, isolation from friends and family and thoughts of suicide. All these symptoms play a significant role in depression and more are easily defused when treated early.

Psychological services are available Monday-Friday from 10-11:30am and 1-2:30pm. There, students are offer individual counseling, group therapy, support groups, bio-feedback, relaxation training, crisis intervention, medication evaluation and follow-up, Learning Disorder Assessment, workshops and classroom presentation.

Talecia Bell can be reached at [email protected]