[1393] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
NYTimes.com Article: More in College Seek Help for Psychological Problems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Shulman)
Mon Feb 3 00:44:44 2003
Errors-To: articles-email@ms1.lga2.nytimes.com
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 23:04:12 -0500
Reply-To: skip@MIT.EDU
From: Peter Shulman <skip@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by skip@mit.edu.
Story about psych health of students on college campuses. We're mentioned, briefly (and rather irrelevantly for the article).
--**Peter
skip@mit.edu
More in College Seek Help for Psychological Problems
February 3, 2003
By ERICA GOODE
A study of college students seeking psychological
counseling has found that their emotional difficulties are
far more complex and more severe than those seen in the
past.
From 1989 to 2001, the percentage of students treated for
depression doubled. So did the percentage of suicidal
students, according to the study, conducted at the
counseling center at Kansas State University. More than
twice the percentage of students were taking some type of
psychiatric medication, even though the absolute number of
students seen by the center remained stable.
Problems related to stress, anxiety, learning disabilities
like attention deficit disorder, family issues, grief and
sexual assault also rose. The study also found accompanying
increases in more traditional college complaints like
trouble in separating from parents, romantic relationships
or the choice of careers.
"What we're seeing is people with multiple problems, and
some of those are significantly more serious," said Dr.
Sherry A. Benton, the assistant director of training at the
counseling center in Manhattan, Kan., and the lead author
of the report, which appears today in the journal
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. The study
was based on forms filled out by therapists after treating
more than 13,000 students seen at the center between 1989
and 2001.
Mental health professionals at other college counseling
services said the study, the largest of its kind and the
first to look at specific categories of problems, confirmed
their impressions that students are now struggling with
more serious forms of distress.
In a 2002 national survey, more than 80 percent of 274
directors of counseling centers said they thought the
number of students with severe psychological disorders had
increased over the previous five years.
What lies behind the increase is not clear. A greater
awareness of mental illness and the easing of the stigma
attached to seeking psychiatric help may play a role. But
experts also cite the pressures on students to succeed
academically and the breakdown of family support systems as
factors.
"People just don't seem to have the resources to draw upon
emotionally to the degree that they used to," said Dr.
Robert Portnoy, the director of counseling and
psychological services at the University of Nebraska. "What
would once have been a difficult patch for someone in the
past is now a full-blown crisis."
Doris Bertocci, a social worker at Columbia University's
counseling center, said about the Kansas State study, "If
anything, the conclusion understates the gravity of the
problem."
Columbia last year reported a 40 percent increase in the
use of the counseling center since the 1994-95 academic
year and has nearly doubled its staff, extended its hours
and set up offices in dormitories. A spokeswoman said the
number of students using the center had risen further in
the last year. Other colleges have registered similar
growth in demand.
Ms. Bertocci said many clients coming to the center
suffered from depression, manic depression, panic attacks
and eating disorders or were dealing with family issues,
including physical or sexual abuse. Some, she said, were
"chronically suicidal."
"Our impression," she added, "has been that by the time
students get to Columbia, many of them have had their
emotional needs neglected by a lack of access to adequate
mental health services."
In the Kansas State study, the percentages of students with
eating disorders, chronic mental disorders or who abused
drugs or alcohol was not significantly higher in 2001 than
in 1989. The percentage of students dealing with sexual or
physical abuse from childhood increased sharply in the
mid-1990's but then declined.
The prevalence of psychiatric problems on campus and the
question of how much responsibility colleges have for the
mental health of their students received wide attention two
years ago, after highly publicized suicides at several
institutions, including the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Many campuses have had sharp increases in psychiatric
hospitalizations. For example, Dr. Portnoy said 15 to 20
students at Nebraska were now hospitalized each semester,
up from 3 or 4 a decade ago. In the vast majority of those
cases, he said, suicidal thoughts or actions precipitate
the hospitalization.
In the 2002 national survey, the counseling service
directors reported a total of 116 suicides at 55 colleges.
Only 20 of those students, the survey respondents said, had
been seen by college counseling centers before the
suicides.
Dr. Benton, at Kansas State, said addressing the needs of
suicidal students was one of the most taxing
responsibilities that counseling center staff members have.
In 2002, she said, her center dealt with 96 students who
were contemplating suicide or had made suicidal gestures or
attempts.
"The amount of time and energy and resources that it takes
is unbelievably high," Dr. Benton said. "I've had a mother
say about her occasionally suicidal son, `I'm counting on
you to keep him alive.' That's a lot of pressure."
Ms. Bertocci, of Columbia, said that many of the students
she sees require antidepressants or other psychiatric
medication but cannot afford to pay for it and do not have
insurance to cover the cost. Dr. Benton said that only
about 30 percent of the students at Kansas State had health
insurance. About 15 percent of college counseling centers
charge students for individual counseling sessions.
Lindsay Gangwish, 23, saw a counselor at the University of
Nebraska counseling center once a week during her four
years at the university. She paid $20 per session for the
first 25 sessions, she said, then $45 per session after
that.
Ms. Gangwish, who graduated in December, said she sought
counseling in her freshman year after having panic attacks
and mood swings.
Eventually, bipolar disorder was diagnosed. She said the
illness runs in her family.
But she added that the pressures of college had contributed
to her difficulties.
"There's a lot of stress," she said. "You hear a lot of
people talking about the stress."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/03/education/03COLL.html?ex=1045245052&ei=1&en=f1f123ac0be03f00
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