Serious Mental Health Needs Seen Growing at Colleges

[alp227]

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling.

It was deep into the fall semester, a time of mounting stress with finals looming and the holiday break not far off, an anxiety all its own.

On a Thursday afternoon, a freshman who had been scraping bottom academically posted thoughts about suicide on Facebook. If I were gone, he wrote, would anybody notice? An alarmed student told staff members in the dorm, who called Dr. Hwang after hours, who contacted the campus police. Officers escorted the student to the county psychiatric hospital.

There were two more runs over that weekend, including one late Saturday night when a student grew concerned that a friend with a prescription for Xanax, the anti-anxiety drug, had swallowed a fistful.

On Sunday, a supervisor of residence halls, Gina Vanacore, sent a BlackBerry update to Dr. Hwang, who has championed programs to train students and staff members to intervene to prevent suicide.

“If you weren’t so good at getting this bystander stuff out there,” Ms. Vanacore wrote in mock exasperation, “we could sleep on the weekends.”

Stony Brook is typical of American colleges and universities these days, where national surveys show that nearly half of the students who visit counseling centers are coping with serious mental illness, more than double the rate a decade ago. More students take psychiatric medication, and there are more emergencies requiring immediate action.

(snip)

A recent survey by the American College Counseling Association found that a majority of students seek help for normal post-adolescent trouble like romantic heartbreak and identity crises. But 44 percent in counseling have severe psychological disorders, up from 16 percent in 2000, and 24 percent are on psychiatric medication, up from 17 percent a decade ago.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/health/20campus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[dkf]

1. What is going on?

[LibDemAlways]

2. Kids today are under pressure to succeed academically

from K on. In K they are forced to read and write. By the time they reach high school they are pressured to take Advanced Placement classes for college credit. They are in a pressure cooker for 13 years before they get to college. It shouldn't come as a surprise that academic pressure coupled with family and social issues eventually results in serious psychological problems.

We're raising a generation of stressed out high achieving test takers, many of whom will flame out spectacularly before finishing the advanced degrees they've been told measure their worth as human beings.

[alp227]

3. while people should value education, i think that they're being pressured to OVER-value it

So what's your plan for a "stress-free" smart student?

[LibDemAlways]

4. My daughter is one. I insisted that in high school she take

a mix of ordinary college prep classes, a couple of honors classes she felt she could handle, and only one AP, in graphic arts. She has friends who've taken nothing but AP and are basket cases.

Daughter's recently been accepted at every college she's applied to, including a couple that claim to be "highly selective." I admit they aren't Ivy League, and for that she would have to be an overstressed zombie, but, on balance, I think she's a good example of a kid who's struck a healthy balance between school and life.

I'm a substitute teacher. Most of my assignments are in middle and high school. The other day I was assigned to be an aide in a kindergarten class. I was appalled to see the kids having to copy the alphabet and being forced to follow along in readers - traditional first grade stuff. Some of them were just staring blankly into space. They are so not ready for it.

[salvorhardin]

5. That's odd. I recall doing the same thing in kindergarten.

Although I would say it was far from stressful. It was only a small portion of the day, and there was lots of play time and nap time.

But in general, I agree with you. Kids are being forced to follow academic paths that might not be right for them.

[LibDemAlways]

6. Play time was 15 minutes. Other than that it was pure academics

from 8:15 to noon. No napping. It wasn't the kindergarten I remember or even the kindergarten my daughter entered in 1998. It was much closer to my daughter's 1st grade class. Too much too soon.