How COVID-19 Has Affected CSUF Students

Annisa Charles and Rosemary Montalvo

Mental health and personal lives have been turned upside down in the lives of CSUF students.

In February of 2020, everyone’s lives were infiltrated by COVID-19. For college students, this was their spring semester and they were told they were only going to be sent online for two weeks.

Many saw this as a small break from their school and work lives, but when the quarantine lasted well past that, many students started to become affected by this–– feeling too secluded from others, online classes being too hard, catching COVID-19 themselves or even losing family or friends to the virus.

The pandemic has come with many debates, either about the virus itself or the social unrest we have seen come up with an anti-Asian sentiment that started because of the virus or the Black Lives Matter movement.

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) students have been collectively affected by these issues since February of 2020. They’ve started petitions to have classes stay online, lost family members, have had racism take over their individual lives, threatened to take their own lives and continue to worry about the rising COVID-19 cases.

Face covering sign located outside of the CSUF Pollak Library on March 17, 2022. The sign was removed after the CSUF mask mandate was lifted in April 2022. Photo credit: Rosemary Montalvo

Photo credit: Annisa Charles

Mental Health Before COVID-19

According to Deloitte Insights, students have increased mental health conditions from 2015 to 2019. There’s already a preexisting issue of how students feel while in school and the lack of help they receive. For example, Deloitte Insights showed in 2015 58% of college students suffered from overwhelming anxiety, while in 2019, it had gone up to 66%.

CSUF psychology major, Jesseca Yriarte has suffered from anxiety and depression since before the pandemic. She never sought out help from professionals to deal with her mental health but instead masked her struggles by maintaining a busy social life.

Emily Dusenbury, a CSUF communications major with an emphasis in advertising and a minor in marketing, suffers from anxiety and depression as well. She has an emotional support animal (ESA) to help cope with her day-to-day routines.

Dusenbury explained that she found some days were hard to get out of bed due to life’s stressors.

Mental Health During COVID-19

Yriarte’s mental health during the pandemic became worse because she became secluded. Going from being in classes daily and working at Disneyland, to being in a very secluded quarantine, she felt the weight of her depression cave in on her.

Beyond that, Yriarte explained when going back to work in the middle of the pandemic, she dealt with racism since she is Asian American. She was spit on, called racist slurs and was told by customers that they didn’t want to be checked out at the register by her simply because of the color of her skin.

She also didn’t feel safe going to the grocery store due to an event in which she was followed by a man, who then spit on her and told her to “go back from where you came from.”

These attacks against her simply based on her appearance made her question her worth. "All I could think was, why was I born Asian in America? Like, would it always be like this?" she questioned.

She couldn’t find refuge anywhere, and her mental health continued to deteriorate. She explained that she began self-harming and even attempted to take her life. Yriarte's family found out and decided to push her to seek professional help.

Stepheny Gehrig, a CSUF student with a triple major in English, linguistics and comparative literature, had many fears about the pandemic and how it'd affect her family. She expressed how she has taken serious precautions in order to not have her mother or father catch COVID-19.

She worried that she'd be around people that weren't taking the proper precautions to keep from contracting COVID-19 because she didn't want to put her parents' lives at risk since they're immunocompromised.

“Being back on campus made it more intense and got me more scared because I was around people who I didn't know if they were vaccinated or not,” Gehrig said.

Gehrig lost her grandpa to COVID-19 in July 2021, which has only added to her fear of being on campus and around other students because of how traumatizing it was to not be able to see or talk to him while he was hospitalized before he died.

Photo courtesy of Emily Dusenbury

How Students Cope

It’s hard for students to find ways to cope with their depression and anxieties due to their school, work and social life management. Finding time to sit with one’s emotions is very important, while also challenging.

Dusenbury explained that her emotional support dog, Bentley, helps her get through her days. She said that Bentley will cuddle with her and give her the extra boost of energy she needs in the morning.

Yriarte said she uses the grounding technique, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” for her anxiety. It works as a way when feeling high amounts of stress to calm down. According to the Mayo Clinic, it goes: five things you can see, four things you can physically feel, three things you hear, two things you smell and one thing you can taste.

She found this grounding technique through the therapy sessions that she started attending after her attempt. Gehrig also tried seeking therapy through the Wellness Center on CSUF campus but found it wasn't for her. She's still looking for other therapy options.

3 Therapy platforms

Pros and Cons

BetterHelp

Pros:

More affordable than traditional therapy
24/7 access to therapists through messages

Cons:

Doesn't accept health insurance
Unclear pricing

Talkspace

Pros:

Constant access
Accepts some health insurance

Cons:

Only 30 min live sessions.
Age restrictions (18+)

Health Insurance

Pros:

Easier access to medication
Possible co-pay or waived fees

Cons:

Takes a long time to find a therapist
Less confidentiality

Infographic credit: Annisa Charles & Rosemary Montalvo

If you or anyone you know is in a mental health crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:

(800) 273-8255 | En español 1-888-628-9454

Or text the Crisis Text Line:

Text “Hello” to 741741

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