<p>Hi, I'm a high schooler doing an informative speech related to psychological problems. I have nothing against MIT; in fact, I wanted to go to MIT a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>I found the statistic in the title a few years ago, so I can't find the source. I don't know if it's correct. Does anyone have info on this statistic/a link that they can point me to? Please correct me if I'm off on the numbers.</p>
<p>Also, I know that MIT has a collaborative environment although it's so tough. Why, then, do you think MIT students need/get counseling?</p>
<p>My son told me that if MIT officials (I don’t know who) see anything unusual about students, they will ask them to see a counsellor. One of my son’s friend is very thin, and they thought he has eating disorder and ask him to talk with a psychiatric . I don’t think MIT is different from any other campus. They are just very careful</p>
<p>I couldn’t find the source either. However, I don’t think that number is unique to MIT. A standardized data set for college student mental health statistics is being set up.</p>
<p>I dug around the APA and google for more articles. I couldn’t find any hard statistics, but I’m sure a few colleges have published them.</p>
<p>As for your question, I think most college students (and colleges) have the same mental pressures. You’re at a point in your life where rapid changes are occurring in an unfamiliar environment with people you don’t know well. Your previous support system is probably at least several hundred miles away, and your friends are likely dealing with their own problems.</p>
<p>Difficult classes only compound the basic social issues new college students face. It can be a pretty difficult trial if you’re unable to quickly establish new support networks, be they through college offices or new social circles.</p>
<p>There’s nothing unique to MIT about mental health. I suggest you do some more digging through the various mental health societies and college counseling offices.</p>
<p>It’s certainly not unusual for MIT students (or college students in general) to see mental health professionals, but one in six sounds really high to me.</p>
<p>Also check what that means. While an undergraduate, I volunteered to be a test subject (for pay) for research in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department. I did some experiments testing facial recognition, left-right brain stuff, and some things I didn’t understand. Although I never sought or received counselling, I clearly met with research cognitive psychologists on a regular basis. Do I count??</p>
<p>A recent MIT study interfered with the brain waves of 20 undergrads for some cognitive science study. If your cognitive science prof wants to experiment on you, find something else to do.</p>
<p>I politely disagree, though I would certainly never accept an invitation to participate in any study that interfered with my brainwave function or involved my ingesting or injecting any experimental substance. There are studies and then there are studies. For example one quite silly experiment showed me picures of various objects (for example an apple) and asked me if the picture made me feel “warmer” or “cooler”. Batty as a belfry, but all contributing to the study of psychology, defined as the science of the study of the mind and behaviour of the college sophomore.</p>
<p>To be fair, most of the stuff I did had more obvious scientific validity, but there were those rare events where I was sitting there thinking “You got funding for this???”</p>
<p>I have not seen that stat anywhere, but in any case, MIT has excellent student support services; ask any student about SSS or Nightline and they’ll back me up.</p>
<p>Counseling at college is free, on campus, well advertised, and some of services are 24 hour hotlines or unscheduled drop-ins that are open late. </p>
<p>When people are out of school and have to shop for a therapist, pay $100+ per week, schedule appointments around work obligations, and get to the counselor’s office by routes more complicated than walking around the block, the usage rates plummet.</p>
<p>People at my HS get counseling (in school) because it is…
a) free
b) accessible
c) somewhere to relax
Those that receive counseling aren’t all mentally unwell/unstable.
I suspect because of the academically rigorous environment, and amount of genius-ness that goes around MIT, there will be many stressed out students and they may have minor mini-meltdowns or psychological problems.</p>
<p>honestly, I feel like the number should be higher. for some reason, I feel like high achievement/ability and high incedences of mental health struggles go hand in hand. And so the pressure cooker that is the high-achiever track, both in high school and college cannot be helpful.</p>
<p>It has been over three decades since I graduated from MIT but I’m sure some aspects of the place never change. One of the big things, for me at least, was that I was the best math and science student at my high school, could do any math problem cold. Well, when you get to MIT, everybody can do that and it is expected. Boy, what a shock to your system. Since I never had to study in high school, it was quite another shock to have to be able to study. Took me almost two years to develope good study habits. So what’s the point of all this? Stressed out students do indeed need counciling. MIT probably doesn’t have a lock on this, but it is probably up there on the list. </p>
<p>Read “The Idea Factory, Learning to Think at MIT” by Pepper White. The first part of the book seems like it was written by the MIT PR department but then the story turns dark. Counciling is better than some of the alternatives. I had two fraternity brothers attempt suicide, one succesful, one not.</p>