The making up of the anxious student

Anxiety reigns on Canadian campuses, placing university administrators under great pressure to provide resources to support student mental health. Considering this, universities are mobilizing mental health promotional strategies as well as increasing implementation of preventative self-help strategies in the hopes of providing students with effective tools to manage their anxiety and maintain a healthy mental wellbeing. This thesis provides a critical analysis of the sorts of services and resources provided to undergraduate students. Through an application of Ian Hacking's conceptual framework in the "making up of people", in conjunction with a critique of neoliberal ideology as it pertains to post-secondary institutions and mental health services, I hope to investigate the dominant form in which Canadian post-secondary institutions frame, formulate, and propagate the concept of anxiety. Moreover, my investigation also explores the way in which undergraduate students are currently being told to view and manage their anxiety through on-campus and online resources and services.