Sadly, Killing Yourself Doesn’t Improve Your Grades
This story is sobering (if you have trouble logging in, use Bug Me Not). Proceed with caution.
“We have had an increasing number of students with serious mental health problems while services are lacking,” said UC Santa Barbara Vice Chancellor Michael Young, co-chairman of the Student Mental Health Committee. “We just don’t have the appropriate level of support to have healthy campuses.”
The increase in mental health problems at UC is part of a national trend arising from the growing stress of university life and the growing number of students who arrive at college already under treatment for mental illness, university psychologists and officials say.
Advances in drug treatment mean that many students with psychological disorders who could not have coped with campus life a generation ago now go on to college.
Although we’re happy that students who would be at a psychological disadvantage now are free to attend universities around the country, their abilities fall apart if the system does not catch up to them. Medicine is only one part of the equation; the human connection and having someone to open up to remains an important part of the equation.
For campus counselors who deal daily with depressed and disturbed students, the April 16 massacre and suicide at Virginia Tech by deranged student Seng-hui Cho was the realization of their worst nightmare. But on a daily basis, campus counselors are stretched thin trying to help students who are recovering from traumatic breakups, suffering from eating disorders or who intentionally cut themselves. At the same time, counselors must cope with students who disrupt classes, create disturbances in residence halls or stalk women.
“There are more troubled kids, that’s the bottom line,” said Elizabeth Downing, who heads the UC Santa Barbara health center. “We boomer generation parents have not done a good job in a way. We were so laid back. Now there’s so much stress. I think we’ve done our children a great disservice. They are driven in every part of their lives.”
At UC Berkeley, 45% of students surveyed in 2004 said they had experienced an emotional problem in the previous 12 months that significantly affected their wellbeing or academic performance. Nearly 10% said they had seriously contemplated suicide.
It’s ridiculous how bad things have gotten in college and how little universities have done to make things easier for students. Instead of increasing the period of time and encouraging (we know far more people graduate in five years now), there is this pressure for students to get out and get going in order to handle incoming enrollments and bulk up university rosters. We don’t think it’s terribly beneficial for Cal to keep on expanding admittance, simply because it’s much easier to get alienated in a larger school, and the larger it gets, the more overwhelming the experience becomes for the green freshmen. Identity is easy to lose in such a huge environment.
It’s not terribly difficult to succeed in college if you figure things out, but no one (especially at the public university) has given the average student the time to adjust and recognize how to become that balanced of a person. We suggest that there should be a transition period between high school and college (say, the first fall semester, where everyone suffers anyway), where students take a class or two, and get a chance to feel out their interests through programs and seminars rather than feeder classes. Unfortunately, in a place like Berkeley, where they’re more likely to treat you like raw meat than fine sushi, the desire to throw you out of here as soon as possible limits those opportunities.
What are your thoughts on mental health care at your university? Do you know of anyone or have you experienced similar feelings of depression and isolation in college, and how did you deal with them? Discuss here; we will be as empathetic as possible, we’ve been down that road too.
Suicides a symptom of larger UC crisis [LA Times]
