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<p>Yes, yes, yes. The only person I knew as an undergrad who attempted suicide, did so largely because she couldn’t handle the level of pressure that her parents were putting on her to perform. </p>
<p>Parents here, being generally, as far as I can tell, good parents, assume the best about other parents. I know enough people who were abused by their parents, haven’t spoken to their parents in five years, etc. I don’t assume the best about other people’s parents.</p>
<p>Parents, make it clear to your kids before they leave for college that they can and should come to you for help if they are having trouble mentally/emotionally, that they have nothing to fear from you, that you are there for them. And then follow up on it by doing what you said, and being supportive for them, and giving them nothing to fear.</p>
<p>If the school dropped the ball, then the school dropped the ball. Not contacting the parents is not dropping the ball. That’s respect for privacy laws and respect for the fact that they don’t know the family dynamics at play. Failing to follow through with a seriously troubled student, not doing anything in response to people telling them that the student was suicidal, that’s dropping the ball.</p>
<p>I do not believe that parents should be given any sort of automatic right to know when college students are seeking medical help. That’s just going to mean a bunch of students who need mental help (or for that matter, other sorts of medical help that they don’t want parents to know they are getting) who will no longer seek it.</p>