A Long-Term Study of the Counseling Needs of Turkish University Students

University years are a critical period in a person's life. It is during this period of completing adolescence and struggling to become an adult that young people face the difficulties of both this certain developmental period and the new hardships brought on by university life. Most university students strive to achieve a balance between their academic and personal lives (Hayes, 1997). It has been reported that when compared with university students from previous years, recent incoming students at universities were more distressed (Ergene & Yildirim, 2004; Yildirim, 2006), had greater problems and needs (Kitzrow, 2003; Vonk & Thyer, 1999), and therefore needed to cope with more diverse problems (Archer & Stewart, 1998). Because of these problems, there is a serious need for university counseling centers. The first psychological counseling and guidance centers in higher education institutions emerged in the early 1900s. In subsequent decades, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, intensive discussions took place about the role and approaches of counseling in the world, and these centers eventually became a central part of university education after the Second World War (Hodges, 2001). In Turkey, the issue was first brought up by the Higher Education Council during the 1980-1981 academic year. During that same time, the Higher Education Council enacted a new law, which mandated the establishment of psychological counseling and guidance services in every higher education institution in order to help students cope with their personal and familial problems (Higher Education Law, 1981). Despite this law, counseling centers were established in only a few well-established and highly ranked state universities and several newly established private universities (Yerin Guneri, 2006). One such private university is Baskent University. The counseling center at Baskent University was established in 1993 and began offering its services in September 1997. In addition to individual and group counseling, the center also organizes study groups and seminars. The topics that the center deals with include communication skills, adjustment to university life, coping with stress, dating skills, assertiveness, study skills, and test anxiety. The services provided at the center are focused primarily on developmental and preventive issues. Clients with severe problems are referred to the psychiatry service of Baskent University Hospital. Following a consultation with the psychiatry service and depending on the client's condition, the student is either treated entirely by this service or seen jointly by the service and the counselor. In addition to the aforementioned services provided by the center, informative seminars are also offered to students and staff regarding the functions and working conditions of the center; although such seminars were more frequent during the first years of the center, they still continue to be held. There is no charge to students for using the counseling center. Previous research has shown that the need for university counseling centers and the number of clients (Bishop, 1990; Dogan, 2006; Kitzrow, 2003; Stukenberg, Dacey, & Nagy, 2006) have increased over the years. Bishop (1990) emphasized that such an increase occurred not only in the number of students but also in the gravity of problems. Similarly, many studies have focused on the question of whether clients at counseling centers are presenting with more serious symptoms. In general, these studies were based either on reports from counseling center staff and directors or on client self-reports. Most college counseling center directors and/or practitioners have reported that the number of students with more serious psychological problems is growing (Gallagher, 2004, 2005; Gallagher, Gill, & Goldstrohm, 1998; Robbins, May & Corazzini, 1985; Sharkin, 1997). Benton, Robertson, Tseng, Newton, and Benton (2003) examined counseling problems over a period of 13 years and found that 14 of 19 client problems, including depression, had increased. …