Psychotic disorders in college students: demographic and care considerations

ABSTRACT Background We examined differences in demographics, access to mental healthcare, and perceived treatment barriers in college students with a history of receiving a psychotic disorder diagnosis compared to non-clinical (no history of diagnosis) and clinical (history of non-comorbid depression) control students. Methods Data came from the 2018–2019 Healthy Minds Study (HMS), n=159 students reported having been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (0.27% prevalence). Comparison groups included 159 randomly drawn non-clinical and 159 clinical control participants. Results Students with a history of psychotic disorder diagnosis were more likely to identify as non-heterosexual (53.5%) and gender non-conforming (17%), were more likely to have a medication prescribed in the past 12 months (84.7%), have a history of participating in counseling (95.5%), received significantly more prescriptions from different medication classes, reported higher perceived need for treatment, and reported experiencing significantly more barriers to treatment compared to control groups. No differences were evident across groups regarding knowledge of campus treatment resources, sex assigned at birth, and race. Discussion College students with a history of psychotic disorder diagnosis face multiple barriers to receiving adequate treatment. University healthcare systems should consider adjusting treatment needs to this population.