Saúde mental de estudantes universitários: revisão da literatura.

Abstract

Students go through a turbulent period when they enter university, marked by changes in their daily lives, exhausting study routines, distance from family, competitions between peers and new interpersonal relationships. As a result, these students become more vulnerable with regard to their mental health and often resort to the use of psychotropic medications. This is a worrying fact, since these drugs produce strong undesirable adverse effects and consequences such as dependence when used negligently. This study seeks to analyze the mental health of university students, covering current disorders and the use of psychotropic medications. In order to achieve the objectives, an narrative literature review was carried out in databases such as SciELO, Virtual Health Library (BVS) and Google Scholar from April to August 2024. The descriptors used were: university students, psychotropic drugs, screening and mental health, with the following inclusion criteria: having an abstract in the chosen databases, full availability free of charge, well-defined results, consistent methodology and being published from 2018 onwards. Ten publications between the years 2018 and 2023 were selected to discuss the topic and it was evident that there is a high prevalence of psychotropic use by university students ranging from 36.7% to 37.3%, with the most cited classes being antidepressants, anxiolytics and anticonvulsants, in addition to psychostimulants. The screening instruments identified in research with the university public were the MINI, DASS-21 and mainly the SRQ-20, demonstrating positive screening rates for mental disorders between 20.5% and 86.5%. These high rates are related to high demand, dissatisfaction with academic performance, sexuality and lower family income. Therefore, it is concluded that it is necessary to know the demands of the university public in order to create prevention and promotion actions aimed at mental health so that the university environment becomes more inclusive, understanding and welcoming, thus, students will have a better academic and future professional experience.