Addressing mental health needs of students

1. Addressing the mental health
needs of students: Lessons
from teaching law
Dr Becky Batagol, Senior Lecturer,
Faculty of Law

2. The Problem in Law
• A 2009 survey of Australian law students and
lawyers showed that more than one third
reported levels of depression.
• Amongst the law students surveyed, 40%
reported symptoms severe enough to warrant
a mental health medical assessment.
• Norm Kelk et al, Courting the Blues: Attitudes Towards
Depression in Australian Law Students and Legal
Practitioners, BMRI Monograph 2009–1, 10–13

3. The Problem in Other Disciplines
• 2010 study of 974 students at University of
Adelaide in disciplines of Medicine, Psychology,
Law and Mechanical Engineering
• 48% of students overall were psychologically
distressed (compared w 11% of age-matched
peers)
• C Leahy et al, ‘Distress Levels and Self-Reported Treatment
Rates for Medicine, Law, Psychology and Mechanical
Engineering Tertiary Students: Cross-Sectional Study’ (2010)
44 Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 608,
610.

4. Discipline and Psychological Distress
Discipline Psychologically distressed
Law 58%
Mechanical engineering 52%
Medicine 44%
Psychology 40%
Leahy et al, 2010.

5. Why the difference between disciplines?
• Three traits, which have been described as
factors contributing to depression, made law
students stand out from their tertiary peers
•lack of autonomy,
•High levels of competitiveness and a
•lack of social connectedness
M Tani and P Vines, ‘Law Students' Attitudes to Education:
Pointers to Depression in the Legal Academy and the
Profession' (2009) 19 Legal Education Review 3.

6. What have we been doing in law?
• Contributions to student learning to assist law
students to develop the resilience necessary to
successfully and healthily complete their studies
and transition into a career in legal practice.
1. inclusion of student mental health in the formal
curriculum
2. encourage interpersonal engagement and create
support networks amongst first year students
3. explicitly incorporate emotion and morality in the
legal curriculum