University studies entail challenges and problems, of both academic and interpersonal nature, which frequently trigger stress, anxiety, or depression. This emotional distress is directly related to a decrease in both academic performance and personal well-being (Jeffries & Salzer, 2022;Morelli et al., 2021). In a previous study involving Spanish second-year university students (Fernández-Rodríguez et al., 2019), 44.7% of the participants were found to present emotional distress indicating anxiety and 13.5% indicating depression. In an international multi-centre study with 13,984 participants, Auerbach et al. ( 2018) identified a prevalence for lifetime mental disorders amongst university students of 35.5%. The most common of these was the major depressive disorder, followed by the generalized anxiety disorder. Both were associated with academic and social problems in at least one in every five people. Lipson et al. (2022) observed that between 2013 and 2021, problems of depression and anxiety increased by more than 100% in university students in the USA, with this tendency affecting all social and ethnic groups.The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a mental health crisis among students. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2021), over 35% of the global population experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression during the pandemic, with young people and university students among the most affected groups. Different studies