HARI SREENIVASAN:

In fact, rates of anxiety and depression among college students in the U.S. have soared in the past decade. There's more awareness of problems, risks and diagnoses, and combined with the stresses of college life, schools are trying to figure out the right course of treatment, counseling and intervention.

The Chronicle of Higher Educatio examined this in a new series about what it calls an epidemic of anguish.

Jennifer Ruark is the editor of the series, which has been in the works for 10 months. And Micky Sharma joins us. He is director of the Association for the University and College Counseling Center. He's director of the Office of Student Life Counseling at Ohio State.

So, Jennifer, I want to start with you. Your reporters spent a long time on this series. What did you all find?

JENNIFER RUARK, The Chronicle of Higher Education: Well, we found that colleges are seeing an increase in the number of students who report to counseling centers with anxiety disorders, with clinical depression.

And they're also seeing more incidents of serious situations that need immediate intervention.