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The stock response to rising levels of demand for psychological and emotional support in universities is that destigmatising mental ill-health leads to more people disclosing problems (¡°Oxford students¡¯ demand for counselling shoots up¡±, News, 12 March).

Yet, as many colleagues working in university counselling, mental health and learning support services admit, there is widespread concern that we are expanding what we regard as signs of ¡°stress¡±, ¡°anxiety¡± and ¡°depression¡±, that more students are presenting themselves and being labelled as ¡°vulnerable¡± and that we are eliding mental health and ¡°well-being¡± to the point of meaninglessness.

Add into the mix the idea that league table rankings for ¡°support¡± are integral to satisfaction in ¡°the student experience¡±, and it becomes impossible to have a frank debate about how to estimate the real scale of mental ill-health and to allocate scarce resources.

Kathryn Ecclestone
Professor of education, University of Sheffield