Hi all - My D is a sophomore who is considering studying abroad in Australia next semester. She’s applied and been accepted and has jumped through the hoops to get classes approved at her University, etc. Now she just has to decide whether she definitely wants to go. Her concern is that she has depression and, although she’s been in treatment while at college, she still has dark times when she has difficulty motivating herself. She doesn’t love her school and I think she’s hoping that a new place will change things for her. But, she has difficulty making friends and has a tendency to isolate herself, so I’m worried about her possibly doing that while abroad and being miserable. Right now, she’s about an hour from home, so if things get particularly bad, I can go take her to dinner or she can come home for the weekend.
I’m hopeful that being that far away in a large city and a large university might be what she needs to feel more independent and, hopefully, make friends and have a great experience. But, I wouldn’t be able to jump on a plane if she struggles and that is scary.
I’d love to hear good/bad experiences from any of you with kids who studied abroad, but particularly stories of kids with depression/anxiety and how the experience went for them.
Wise move, in my opinion, especially if combined with a committment to daily exercise program.
Did your daughter’s depression begin in college ? If so, then a change of environment would be a great move–especially if just for one semester.
Is your daughter at UGa or at Emory/Oxford ? I ask because I can understand feeling down in a small environment. In my opinion, large universities are much healthier environments than are small LAC type communities.
P.S. Melbourne is supposedly the top destination in Australia.
I would not send a student with diagnosed depression abroad. Studying abroad can be stressful and lonely for even the most resilient student. To face that alone abroad, without access to a support network nor therapists or doctors familiar with her condition or medication, seems very risky.
Depends upon the cause of depression (if known) as well as when the feelings of depression began. (Often young adults feel depressed after a break-up. Probably not the case here, but we do not know. If so, a new environment should be helpful. Especially since it is just for a semester of 15 weeks. Once the excitement wears off, it will be time to go home,)
If depression started in college, then spending a semester abroad may help.
If depression is too severe, then OP should be seeking medical opinions rather than college counseling.
Also, OP should ask about counseling services & medical services in the new location.
A lot of mental health issues start around the college years.
Breaking up with a boyfriend and being depressed is situational depression. I get the sense that the OP is talking more about clinical depression.
I agree with @roycroftmom that studying about could be a risky proposition. Study abroad is fraught with emotional ups and downs even for people not facing depression. For someone unhappy in their current environment, the thought of changing one’s environment sounds like a promising idea and maybe it will turn out to be that, however, it is easy to glorify the experience ahead of time due to current unhappiness. Then, upon finding out that a new situation doesn’t lead to more happiness, things cannot pan out well at all without the usual support and safety nets and distance from loved ones.
I have two friends with daughters with diagnosed clinical depression who are going abroad. Both have arrangements to skype with their counselors at home and both sets of parents are planning visits.
That said, both young women have been battling depression since middle school so it’s not a new diagnosis and they have long term history with their counselors and their medications.
If this is a newer diagnosis, I would talk to a professional for their opinion.
Thanks so much for the responses, all - especially those of you who pm’d me. I really appreciate it! To answer your questions, my D has been seeing a therapist for several years now, but in high school it was more anxiety. It became depression spring semester of her freshman year at college and she began medication this past summer which seems to be working well. She has been seeing a counselor at her college who is, according to her, supportive of the study abroad idea. This counselor is new this year - she saw a different one last year - and, although she likes her, I don’t get the impression that my D has a particularly strong connection to this counselor that she’d miss.
I don’t know how severe the depression is - she is a kid who keeps a lot inside so it may be worse than I know. She has great grades and is participating in lots of things at her college, so it isn’t stopping her from doing what she needs to do so far. It has, I think, prevented her from making the friends and social connections she hoped for, though.
I agree that we will need to make sure she has access to counseling services and medication if she goes abroad and we’ve talked to her about that. I’ve also talked to the program about it and it appears they do a good job of getting students set up with counseling services within the hosting university.
We’re trying to weigh the benefit of a change of scenery and visiting somewhere she’s always wanted to see with the downside of lack of comfort, familiarity, and her safety net. It sounds to me like many of you think it depends on the severity of her depression and how well-controlled it is with medication/counseling. I really appreciate your thoughts and experiences and will discuss it with her more over the next few days.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and sharing your experiences.
Even if depression hasn’t been diagnosed I would hesitate to send a child far north in fall semester or far south in the spring semester. I want the daylight time to be increasing during the term.
Is your daughter likely to take the initiative to locate and use the available counseling resources in a new foreign environment if she needs them? Will you mail to her the medication refills throughout the semester if she can’t take sufficient with her, and can that be done in a timely manner? What’s her plan to make friends in a different locale? She may have good answers but just things to consider.
Maybe, @doschicos. Or maybe the study abroad program is profit making and trying to get as many students as possible. I am rather wary of programs that claim it will all be fine without a full understanding of the nature of the specific illness.
@Emmycat : If your daughter does take a semester in Melbourne, Australia, it might be wise to have your passport ready.
The fact that you & your daughter have spent months planning this semester abroad suggests that her depression may not be severe. I wonder if you may be having a last minute moment of worry as this signifies that your daughter is becoming an independant adult.
This may be one of the best experiences of her young life.
My D has been on a number of study abroad programs so far for varying lengths up to a full semester.
Can your D do a short term one first before a full semester? All of the programs my D did counseled against those with depression participating.
If your d’s therapist thinks she can handle it, I’d let her go. And I’d go through the whole checklist of things you should have in order (like the one in The Stressed Years of their Lives), get your passport current (just in case), and make sure you and your D plan to Facetime at regular intervals so you can be in touch (and she won’t have to be the one making additional effort if there’s an issue.)
I’d be more worried if she were going somewhere with a far greater culture gap where she could feel more isolated, have more challenges with the medical community, etc. Not to say that I wouldn’t have the concerns you fo, but it sounds like this plan addresses them as well as can be.