Depression On The Rise In College Students

Parents Forum
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<p>Hummm… One of my kids ended up at his reach school, and he did struggle his first year (psychologically). But now, he is really thriving.</p>

<p>I don’t think there is an uptick in depression. College kids have often felt depressed and worried (about the costs of school, getting a job after graduation, finding a soulmate). I went to college in the late 1970’s and the economy wasn’t that good then either. The difference is that there’s much more transparency now and more reporting and more kids quitting. Years ago, if you had to quit college or take a gap year, you didn’t talk it.</p>

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<p>If you took five courses, would you expect that you wouldn’t run into anyone else that hasn’t had a mother, father, grandparent, cousin, brother, sister or friend that hasn’t suffered from mental illness?</p>

<p>One needn’t take a course and perhaps spending a few hours or a few dozen hours with someone with a problem would provide more than a course.</p>

<p>I do think that high-schools should provide training so that we could recognize and possibly intervene in some of the recent mass-killings.</p>

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<p>These are the difficult years for young adults and for some, the added stresses of going out on their own even in a college campus situation is a bit much. This has always been the case at college. My college had the “white house” as it was called where you went for Valium, the drug of choice for anxiety and depression back then. It seemed like half the kids went there. </p>

<p>If the situation starts hurting the colleges’ bottom lines, you had better believe they will start moving to keep kids in school There are attrition rates built into their acceptance models.</p>

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<p>Bottom line is, when you send your children to college, no one is tasked with the responsibility of watching over them. Someone like a roommate or a teacher might recognize a student is struggling with depression, or might not, but I wouldn’t depend on it. As a parent, I would never expect a third person, especially a roommate or a professor who probably doesn’t even know my kid’s name, to tell me my kid was suffering from mental illness.</p>

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<p>I taught at a uni until I became disillusioned, mostly, I found that encouraging students to take a lone-wolf approach to studying and pitting them against each other in the “spirit of competition” was unhealthy and counter to the goals of education.</p>

<p>This year I start my Grad. Dip. in Counseling and will be focusing on Higher Education, as that is the field I work in, though privately now. I feel I can make a more positive contribution to tertiary students by developing professionally in this area.</p>

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<p>I think colleges need to move to find more of a middle ground with these kids. Rather than admonishing parents to not be “helicopter” parents, why are they not more willing to work with us to keep the kid in school? We knew D1 had issues. We knew art school would be a challenge. But she generally thrives on challenges, she’s a very talented artist and it is what she wants to do with her life. As the ‘consumer’; I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth from the school. I practically begged them (and her regular therapist here at home was in contact with them too) to work with us to find a solution. She needed more support than she got.</p>

<p>There are colleges with programs for kids with Asperger’s disorder and other learning disabilities that do actually offer ‘support’ and more monitoring of at risk kids. What I can’t fathom is why, especially if kids are pre-identified before enrolling, they are still not given the support they need and why parents are blocked and shunned and pushed away from trying to help find a solution. You would think that the school would be interested in maintaining their revenue stream by keeping a kid enrolled.</p>

<p>One of the posters above was admonishing parents that kids with issues are ‘their responsibility’, but every which way you turn you are viewed as footing the bill but nothing else; certainly not as a partner in the process (which is what I think would be fair). When D1 turned 18, her therapist TOLD us that she would arrange a phone schedule and SEND US THE BILL… but that we really didn’t have any say-so in the matter. As parents, we feel that we are entitled to know what is going on with the kid, particularly when we know there are mental health issues and less importantly, but still to the point, when we are the ones paying the bills. We really had nothing more than D1’s word as to how she was doing for most of the semester. It was only when therapist really got worried and called us to go get her that we really knew there was real trouble. We knew she was struggling (she had lost weight and told us herself that she was stressed out) but had no idea things were as bad as they were.</p>

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<p>A friend’s D refused to go to her U, even tho her dad took her up, bought her everything & went to campus to her. She said she wasn’t ready & returned with her dad. She spent the next year or two in her room and finally decided she wanted to venture out again. She got a part-time job, then worked more hours so she could get medical insurance. She then enrolled in the local flagship U & will soon be graduating with honors. Don’t know exactly what her issues were/are and how they have been addressed but her family believes they were fortunate that she chose not to go when she didn’t feel emotionally & physically ready for the changes (even tho she had to forfeit the very generous Merit & FAid scholarships they kept open for her for an additional year).</p>

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<p>Take a look at the organization Active Minds (google will get you there). It addresses just the issues raised here. From their website:</p>

<p>“Active Minds is the only organization working to utilize the student voice to change the conversation about mental health on college campuses. By developing and supporting chapters of a student-run mental health awareness, education, and advocacy group on campuses, the organization works to increase students’ awareness of mental health issues, provide information and resources regarding mental health and mental illness, encourage students to seek help as soon as it is needed, and serve as liaison between students and the mental health community. Through campus-wide events and national programs, Active Minds aims to remove the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, and create a comfortable environment for an open conversation about mental health issues on campuses throughout North America.”</p>

<p>Some of you may want to suggest to your kids that join this organization or, if there isn’t a chapter on campus (there are only 308), start one.</p>

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<p>I go to a prestigious public high school, and I don’t like it at all. There are kids popping adderall without needing it, often prescribed by a doctor parent. Despite this, if it comes out that someone is clinically depressed, rumors fly. </p>

<p>I wish Active Minds existed in high schools…</p>

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<p>Glutenmon, just wanted to ask if you or your daughter are aware of the enormous challenges involved in getting off antidepressants. It is very possible that she was suffering from the truly awful effects of withdrawal. Yes, this can include a return of depression, but also all kinds of other symptoms, including electric sensations inside the head, fluish symptoms, trouble focusing, fatigue, and even visual hallucinations. Doctors often do not seem all that aware of this phenomenon, and it would help if they could tell teens and young adults to be careful and get off very, very slowly. If you search this online, you will find that people go down in tiny, tiny increments over long periods of time to avoid withdrawal syndromes.</p>

<p>Our daughter is at a top college that seems to offer an awful lot of support and accommodations for students with medical or psychiatric problems, but in order to benefit, students need to be registered with the Disability Office. Glutenmom, did your daughter do this? Did her professors get letters from the Disability Office? Was anyone designated as her “go to” person in case of trouble?</p>

<p>Parents can ask their kids to give written permission to anyone, a dean, counselor, medical doctor, to communicate with parents. Our daughter has some severe chronic medical problems, which sometimes impair her, and did give that permission, but we agreed on the terms in which it would be used. When she is too impaired, I do communicate with the dean of her residence, as sparingly as possible, only as necessary, and always ending with “XXXXX(our daughter) will take over communication beginning tomorrow, or as as soon as she is able.” You could ask your daughter to do a written release and talk about how and when to use it. </p>

<p>If the student has known problems, then visits once a month if parents live some distance away, might help that first year (if affordable). If parents live closer, visits once or even twice a week can be helpful, depending on the severity of the problem. This is a way of monitoring and supporting without intruding upon the student’s privacy and right to deal with the school independently. Bringing food seems to help, and is a good excuse to show up.</p>

<p>Some schools make it hard for students to return, with a lot of hoops to go through. It sounds like glutenmom’s daughter’s college is not one of those schools, which is a good thing.</p>

<p>I have another child still home, between high school and college, yes, spending a lot of time in her room. This may happen to her, and if it does, it will give more clarity to her path in the end. So we will try to see the positive side. But we do plan on paying tuition refund insurance for her.</p>

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<p>Glutenmom, hugs to you. Our D, I believe, was depressed all through freshman year, despite our best efforts, including telephone counselling with her old therapist back home. Different from your situation, she did have a wonderful support system at the college, but she refused to take advantage of it and as you say, there’s little you can do to force it from hundreds of miles away. Like yours, she simply wasn’t ready to be independent. In retrospect, we too wished we had pushed hard for a gap year or a year of community college.</p>

<p>I would like to give you a note of hope. D did finish out freshman year and then got a leave of absence. She took fall semester here at home at the community college, and is now back at her LAC. The transformation that occurred from May to December was nothing short of astounding, and maybe you will find the same with your D. She got some emotional distance from her misery, did alot of thinking, made some decisions and some changes; basically, she grew up. She’s having a wonderful semester back at school now. I wish the same for your D.</p>

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<p>all the best for your outcome Glutenmom,</p>

<p>Now, reagarding the Thread Title and the premis of this article – POPPYCOCK!</p>

<p>Mental illness is biological, genetic. There is nothing in our population’s genetics that has changed in the past ten years. Absurd article title.</p>

<p>The article should be titled: “Mental Illness receives greater exposure on college campuses”</p>

<p>Depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, Bi-Polar disorder, anxiety disorder, etc. are as old as genetic mutation. I’m very, very glad that modern science is increasingly figuring out how to identify, target, and treat brain chemistry conditions that we idenfiy with all these clinical names.</p>

<p>I do agree with some posters above… these underlying brain chemistry conditions can be unmasked and accentuated by a high pressure, uncertain environment like competitive colleges. Sometimes the worst “great thing” that can happen to a well functioning person with one of these conditions is to be miraculously admitted into a reach school. Under the sort of pressure that arises from living independently for the first time, of the person’s very first C or D, or in the absence of a regular intake of prescribed medication, a fragile psyche (a brain that is chemically out of balance) can collapse pretty quickly.</p>

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<p>exactly true.</p>

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<p>I just want to second compmom on this one.</p>

<p>Posters are blaming schools for not communicating with parents. You (parents) try to justify it with the fact that you are paying and you’re they’re parents. But it’s actually illegal in the state of Maryland (the only state I know about specifically) for the school to discuss anything with the parent of a student over eighteen whether it be grades, resident life etc. As for health and mental health, again, it is illegal for a parent to be told if the student is over eighteen. (However there are ways to allow parents to see this) I have chronic health issues and upon entering the hospital between my first and second semesters at school, I signed forms designating my mother, then my father as allowed to make decisions on my behalf if I’m unable. But still, later on I was in school and went to the health center. My specialist from home wanted information from the appointment. It took four days for me to convince the health center to release my records to another doctor.
You cannot blame the school for this. It is illegal for them to communicate with you unless your child is in serious trouble. (Or it’s time for the bills to be paid lol). They cannot let you make decisions for your child over 18, nor can they release information about their grades etc.</p>

<p>It is surprising that there was a student turned away from the resource office, but it was probably for a simple reason (such as time they walked in etc.). Parents cannot expect the school to watch an adult. They are their parents, but that means it is their responsibility to have raised their child so that they can deal with their own or to notice themselves when there is something wrong. No, we (college students)didn’t become adults at 12 AM on our eighteenth birthdays. Before we were eighteen, our parents were responsible for things like school and health and communicating with other people for us. They were also responsible for helping us out if we couldn’t do something ourselves. On our eighteenth birthday, the first responsibility is taken away. The second isn’t. It’s not passed onto a school either. No, parents can no longer do anything for us, but they can still help. (It’s like the difference between the kid who’s parents helped them with their science project and the kid who’s parents did it for him)</p>

<p>As for the article, depression itself isn’t on the rise. It is easier to be treated for depression, more people who wouldn’t have made it to college other wise are going to college, and people are more likely to ask for help now. This equals more diagnosis and treatment.</p>

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<p>I think Glutenmom nailed it. Colleges used to act “in loco parentis.” Now they’ve largely abandoned that role, yet they give us parents grief and label us “helicopter parents” if we’re actively concerned about our kids’ welfare. Yet it’s 100% natural and right for parents to be concerned about their teen and young adults’ kids’ welfare. That’s the whole reason for the erstwhile “in loco parentis” thing – colleges were essentially promising that they’d look after these kids the way their parents would.</p>

<p>So, colleges cast the kids adrift, and the parents aren’t supposed to interfere? Seems all wrong to me.</p>

<p>Back in the day. I attended an experimental “hippie” college, one of the first to abandon the “in loco parentis” role. There were many walking wounded among the students there! One night, while relaxing in my dorm room, I heard a girl in a nearby room wailing like a banshee–very loud and high-pitched. I’d never heard anything like it. My roommate and I could not locate the girl or the room. Eventually the wailing stopped. I have no idea what that girl’s problems were, but it certainly didn’t seem as if anyone was doing anything about them.</p>

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<p>“I do agree with some posters above… these underlying brain chemistry conditions can be unmasked and accentuated by a high pressure, uncertain environment like competitive colleges.”</p>

<p>My younger son and I both have OCD, and, believe me, episodes are DEFINITELY triggered by stress. As with most things, both nature and nurture play a role, and so do environmental factors. </p>

<p>Thank God for Luvox!!</p>

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<p>DunninLA and poetgrl… once again, did you READ the ARTICLE? Not just the title? The whole article?</p>

<p>There are indeed more kids in college with mental health issues - BECAUSE in the past these kids probably would never have made it to college. With the advent of better medications and earlier recognition and counseling, these kids were able to achieve in high school. Without those supports, a couple decades ago, they’d have been lucky to graduate from hs.</p>

<p>Now they are in college, and colleges need to provide services for them so they can continue to thrive academically.</p>

<p>The article doesn’t say more kids are getting mental illness. It says more kids WHO ARE IN COLLEGE are being treated for mental health issues - again because in the past some of these kids wouldn’t have been able to go to college.</p>

<p>Again, folks, READ an article before commenting on it.</p>

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<p>Perhaps the increase in mental illness is because of changing definitions of mental illness. Ultimately, the decision of where the line between mental illness and “normalcy” is in many cases subjective. In order to be considered mentally ill two things need to happen: 1) people and their families seek help 2) physicians or psychologists make a clinical diagnosis. More and more, people are seeing their psychological problems as mental illness and seek treatment, and health care providers are increasingly seeing such problems as treatable disease. It’s not that there is an epidemic–it’s more that people are being considered depressed who before would have either never told a doctor about it, or, their doctor would dismiss their problems as not serious.</p>

<p>Why is this happening? It can be seen as part of a general trend of medicalization–the process by which more and more of our life becomes framed in a medical standpoint, and more and more problems become diseases. Why medicalization of mental health? Perhaps people are now required to mentally perform at higher levels and seek treatment because they are struggling in an intellectually challenging society. Perhaps we are losing the social support systems we once had. Perhaps, this is merely the consequence of the availability of cheap and safe psychotropic medications (the serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) that allow doctors to provide a solution. </p>

<p>As for college, the general model of mental illness is predisposition plus precipitating factors. Moving out of your parents home, going to a new school, or merely starting a “new chapter” in one’s life is stressful and likely to trigger mental illness.</p>

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<p>Serously? this is a chat board.</p>

<p>I read plenty of journal articles about adolscent mental illness, and write and publish some, as well, in professional journals. I’m not that interested in the “pop” take on my profession. But, thanks for the instruction manual.</p>

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<p>There are many in the college world who believe those with mental illnesses severe enough to require monitoring ought not to be sent off to college, but ought to commute from home. If parents TRULY want to monitor their child’s mental health, it is contraindicated to send them off more than a short drive from home.</p>

<p>schools are not families, and for insurance reasons, are never going to take on the risk of being responsible for managing the mental health of their students. In fact, it is rare for student services to do much of anything in the way of mental health counseling other than short term interventions, with outside placements for more long term care. There is a REASON they refer outside student services for long-term counseling or mental health treatment. They simply do not want to take on the liability. Nobody does. Nobody will, except the family.</p>

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<p>Life is Beautiful you just need to know how to enjoy it.</p>