DEPRESSION and suicide are two issues many students do not think about on a daily basis. Others, however, cannot stop thinking about them and their effects on their lives. Whether it is the pressure of doing well in classes, making the right friends, or finding a good job, students often feel overwhelmed during their college years.
Recently, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine signed a bill requiring colleges to develop a plan for how to deal with students who demonstrate self-destructive or suicidal tendencies. This bill will require public colleges and universities to create protocols to identify, address, and help such students. In addition, it will require something that should be common sense to any school administration: that they create policies that do not penalize or expel students for attempting to commit suicide or seeking psychological treatment. This bill is a step in the right direction in the treatment of mental health issues in this country, and I hope other states will follow suit.
Since students are often afraid to seek help from their school's counseling and psychological services, penalizing students in any way for suffering from suicidal thoughts or actions only perpetuates a cycle of intolerance and ignorance about mental health in our society. As Sarah Lyons, the President of Students for Mental Health Awareness notes, "Students should be able to feel comfortable with the idea of seeking help from their school's counseling and psychological services, not fear suspension because their mental health problems have become an 'undue burden.'" We, as students, should be able to rely on our community of trust for support in times of trouble, not fear expulsion in addition to our other burdens.
According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control website, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24. In 2001, 3,971 suicides were reported in this group. The website also notes that, "Few schools and communities have suicide prevention plans that include screening, referral, and crisis intervention programs for youth." The University, however, offers several services to students suffering from mental health issues, such as CAPS and the HELPline. These services, which range from online assessment tests to actual therapy sessions, can save students on the brink of self-destruction and change their lives forever.
Our University is ahead of the curve in the treatment of students who suffer from depression or other issues. Most schools do not have these services available to students. It is a sad reality that many people in this country do not acknowledge or admit to suffering from mental health issues, due to a stigma attached to them. When the topic of depression is mentioned, images of ink-blot tests, anti-depressant pills, and a therapist, asking, "How does that make you feel?" come to mind. This perception of mental health as something silly and over-diagnosed forces individuals who suffer from such issues to remain quiet. Many people would rather suffer for years than be labeled as mentally unstable or dangerous.
Professor Pat Wilkie believes, "While the 'wall of silence' about depression and similar brain disorders is slowly cracking, there is much that we can do as members of the university community to increase awareness and provide help to those in need." Suicidal students should never be considered a burden to our administration, nor should they be looked down upon as "abnormal" or "dangerous." Gov. Kaine's bill will help students feel comfortable seeking the help that they need.
The All About Depression Web site notes that two-thirds of those who are depressed never seek treatment. If more states would sign bills providing assistance and support to students who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts, fewer students would commit suicide each year. This is an obvious correlation, and there is no reason for schools to deny this logic. The fact that a bill such as this must even be written in the year 2007 is appalling. Not all individuals who suffer from mental health issues live in a padded cell with a strait-jacket. Students who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts are all around us, sitting in class, living down the hall, even partying on Rugby Road.
Lyons and Wilkie both discovered recently that students are most likely to talk to their friends when experiencing trouble. This observation is a troubling one, which reveals that students are attempting to provide the aid that only a mental health care professional can provide. Luckily, Students for Mental Health Awareness is beginning to initiate training for all Commerce School students in order to teach them to Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) individuals who may be struggling with depression. This step, along with Kaine's bill, finally acknowledges an issue that desperately needed to be addressed, and I applaud these efforts in our community.
Lindsay Huggins's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at lhuggins@cavalierdaily.com.
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