College Mental Health Services Feel Strain

Rise In Mentally Ill Students Has Campuses Struggling To Maintain Balance Between Safety And Privacy

(AP)  College counseling centers across America are strained by rising numbers of mentally ill students and surging demand for mental health services — a challenging trend as campus officials try to identify potential threats like the unstable Virginia Tech gunman.

Even when serious emotional problems are detected, university officials often feel constrained in how they respond due to an array of laws and policies that protect students' rights and privacy.

"The number of people coming to colleges who've had psychiatric treatment has increased tremendously," said Dr. Gerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chair of the American Psychiatric Association committee on college mental health.

"Now they're able to come to college — that would not have been the case earlier," he said. "You've got a very large number of people who may have some vulnerabilities. It has stressed the availability of resources."

Reasons for the surge include the Americans with Disabilities Act, which gives mentally ill students the right to be at college, and increasingly sophisticated medications that enable them to function better than in the past.

Recent surveys and studies underscore the scope of the increase.

A survey last year by the American College Health Association found that 8.5 percent of students had seriously considered suicide, and 15 percent were diagnosed for depression, up from 10 percent in 2000. The Anxiety Disorders Association of America found that 13 percent of students at major universities and 25 percent at liberal arts colleges are using campus mental health services.

Dr. Chris Flynn, director of Virginia Tech's counseling center, has declined to discuss details of gunman Cho Seung-Hui's case, but said the center's staff — which includes a psychiatrist and 11 psychologists — treats about 2,000 students per school year.

In December 2005, a magistrate ordered Cho to undergo an evaluation at a private psychiatric hospital after two women complained about annoying calls from him and an acquaintance reported he might be suicidal. An initial evaluation found probable cause that Cho was a danger to himself or others as a result of mental illness, but court papers indicate he was free to leave the hospital within days — a step allowed only if hospital officials judged him no longer a danger.

"We have to provide services to students with mental illness — it's not grounds to exclude them from our property," Flynn said. "We cannot discriminate against the mentally ill, nor do we want to."

He said the type of complaints lodged against Cho by the two women are a common and challenging phenomenon on campuses nationwide.

[betsyross713]

Mental illness comes in many forms. Some are more manageable than others. Medication, counseling, or both may be needed. Educated people are less likely to attach stigma to counseling services than those who are less educated. Calling people "nutburgers" and "wackos" is counter-productive. It discourages people who need these services from seeking them out, afraid of the stigma that comes with it. There are flaws with the system. One such flaw is that in order to be hospitalized for a mental illness, one must be an IMMEDIATE threat to themselves or others. This means having a plan to do harm, stating the plan to a professional, and the professional believing you intend to carry out the plan. If this young man had no plan at the time he left the hospital, they could not keep him there. The key is in providing services that everyone can afford, educating teachers, police officers, and other professionals to see the signs of mental illness, providing a safe atmosphere for people to obtain services without stigma or judgment, and nurturing our children so that we prevent trauma when possible, or treat as soon as possible if not prevented. There is a mental health crisis in this nation. Until we change our attitude about mental health, it will continue. Increased compassion is essential. As long as there are people referring to mental illness as "wackoism" and "nutburgeritis", there will be people too afraid to seek the help they need, and prevent outcomes like this one.

[anniepema]

The university health centers have an herculean task.
It would be best if all future parents knew the connection of increasing paternal age(33 and above) and risk for disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Knowing that a history of autoimmune disorders also is a major risk factor for both autism and schizophrenia might be a great help. See the EBD blog:Fathers%u2019 Age as Contributor to Risk for Autism

There are research papers and much scientific knowledge of the paternal age effect on de novo neurocognitive developmental disorders, non-verbal intelligence, type 1 diabetes, MS, Alzheimer's, cancers, hemophilia, etc.,etc.

These conditions need to be prevented and cannot be cured. The drastic increase in paternal age over the last maybe 28 or so years is leading to a flood of people with chronic developmental genetic conditions such as: schizophrenia and autism.

I suggest reading: Schizophrenia Risk and the Paternal Germ Line
By Dolores Malaspina
also try the male biological clock blogspot and autism prevention blogspot and the paternal age effect: how old is too old blogspot.

[hermit22]

cant sleep. thinking about cho.

for the english ("i KNEW it was one of two....") and psyCHOlogical departments to KNOW cho was having such SERIOUS mental battles for TWO years and do nothing, was criminal and cruel as siting by watching a blind person stagger through boards with spikes jutting up under his bleeding bare feet and doing NOTHING to lead him into a better path.

[gangesdak]

Most parents do not know the extent of mental stress their children are taking in college. Regardless of their "accredited expertise", mental health experts are not of much help in curing mental disorder of a student. The parents have to be involved in the curing process though the law does not allow it in the name of protecting privacy. In most cases privacy is just another name for vanity. Laws should be changed so that parents become partners in the curing process. Let common sense prevail.