Mcginn's 'After Virginia Tech'

The mental stability of college students has dropped to a staggering low, so low that 1 in 4 college students have reported that the have had suicidal thoughts and actions. That's just the amount that have reported that they are feeling suicidal. So many college students struggle with mental illness and receive no help or guidance in curing and dealing with their illnesses.

Mental health among college students has been proven to be a relevant social issue that our society faces. There are certainly a few different institutions that play a large role within the development of this social issue. The first institution, and the primary institution at play with this issue, is the higher education system. In terms of mental health and having access to resources, college students haven’t always been as lucky as they are today. One study in 2007 explains the story of Junior at Syracuse University (Kravets, 3081). Anita Rutman had a history of mental health issues; she even found herself being admitted to a mental health hospital. One morning in February, she threw herself off of the eighth floor of Boland Hall and landed on a patio and fortunately lived. However, her attempt stemmed from the university sending her letter three days prior that informed Anita that the school was planning to dismiss her because of her suicidal tendencies (Kravets, 3081). Anita later sued Syracuse for ten million dollars for malpractice and negligence in handling her condition.

The study conducted by Buchanan (2013) examined the effectiveness of the Peden cognitive behavioral group intervention (CBGI) in preventing depression among college students. The purpose of the study was to address the research question: “What are the differences in depressive symptoms, negative thinking, and self-esteem in college students who participate in the 4-week Peden-CBGI within the clinical setting?” (Buchanan, 2013).

Caity Farrell, a student at Western Harnett High School in Sanford North Carolina went to her guidance counselor, after finding out she was pregnant at the age of seventeen, about her college options. She had always dreamed of becoming a doctor and took honors and AP classes to make sure she could achieve that dream. Her counselor responded with telling her that she might as well go to community college because she already ruined her life. The schools are making student grades and attendance more important than their sanity and health. One in five students have a severe mental disorder and seventeen percent of students between grades nine and twelve have had suicidal thoughts. Nine percent of those students will attempt to take their lives.

Our team wanted to get the perspectives of other universities that have done studies on the effects of insufficient counseling services. Gathering data from other universities studies will allow us to compare our findings with theirs to identify what did or did not work for them. This will be done by researching scholarly articles in which they used multiple data pooling techniques. These studies give us a better understanding of the

Mental health is a serious topic that is often not taken seriously. Due to my own struggles with depression, I have experienced the impact mental illness can have on a student’s life. Mental illness can make everyday life feel unbearable and can have just as serious of an effect on a person as a physical illness. The causes of increasing mental health problems in college students are numerous, and it will take work from both students and universities to overcome this problem, but change is necessary for the health of U.S. college students.

There have been several studies conducted in the past ten years that demonstrated positive results of applying crisis management models to reduce negative behaviors of students identified as having an Emotional Behavior Disorder. A study performed by researcher, Carol Dawson in 2003 in New York City demonstrated that applying LSCI interventions had a positive impact on disruptive behavior rates, number of office referrals, and teacher and student relationships at a self contained program (Dawson, 2003). The population of Dawson’s study included racially diverse students and students who receive free or reduced lunch (Dawson, 2003). Additionally, a study done by Grskovic and Goetz in 2005 at residential treatment facility demonstrated that students receiving LSCI interventions maintained a consistent decline of verbally disruptive behavior during the

Not all students may encounter a problem or condition, but some encounter multiple problems. The types of problems and conditions include changing families, poverty, violence, abuse of alcohol and/or drugs, suicide, and child abuse (Axia College, 2005). These are serious problems that many students face in today’s world, which

666), “bipolar disorder exists in 2.6% of the population over the age of eighteen and typically begins during the first year of college.” In the beginning, it is hard to tell the difference between manic and depressive episodes because college students experience difficult situations in their environment that can produce emotions that make the norm for a typical college student trigger different moods. Solutions in the study concluded treatments involving medications and psychotherapy measures to resolve the manic episodes as a short-term focus for the students. In comparison other methods similar to the analysis of the topic included the criteria of: age, interviews and cognitive therapy. Styles of treatment such as therapeutic relationships provided help to college students maneuver through college life. According to Lejeune (2011), “school counselors can help to differentiate certain losses from a generalized depressive state, making students become more confident in managing feelings and preventing relapses and also understanding the ordinary changes in

As the years pass children are spending less time being children and more time being serious. This has drastically destroyed their psyche. This decline in childhood play ties back to oversensitivity on college campuses today. The decline in play and rise is coddling as a child has stripped children from growing into confident adults. A student’s mental health in college is affected also by so many other factors, such as social standing, academic standing, or personal

As for my personal learning experience within my first semester graduate course I believe I’ve not only gained a sustainable amount of information, but also a better understanding in the field of mental health counseling. In particular, from my first semester I believe my fundamentals course gave me not only a new insight within the field my also a hands on experience, encouraging and embarking me into the counseling process. In fact before entering Kutztown University Fundamental’s graduate course with Dr. Arena I had very little experience and skills within the subject of counseling. Prior to the course I only had one undergraduate course, which looked at an introduction level to clinical psychology, and a summer job, which entitled me as a unit counselor for a Girl Scout day camp. During these two experiences I was able to gain a brief understanding of the certain roles

Thesis: Mental Illness in colleges needs to be addressed because of the rise in college students being diagnosed in mental health problems.

   Today a college education can overload students with too many stressful situations. Not only does Stress overload today's college students, but it is also the leading cause of personality disorders. In her essay, Cathy Bell explains that major depressive disorder strikes 5-12% of men and 10-20% of women; half of these people will have more than one occurrence and 15% of them will commit suicide ("Depression for the young"). For instance, many depressives are first recognized and treated during their years in college. For a large amount of people, depression exposes itself because of traumatizing experiences, such as leaving home and/or academic stress. For other students alcohol and drugs become a

Depression and anxiety among college students is something that experts have focused on for the past twenty years. The information they have been gathering ranges from the different stressors of college life to the effects of one's culture on how they deal with depression or anxiety symptoms. They have identified a few core characteristics of depression and thoughts of suicide. These are both serious concepts in which people need to seek help for. It is important for students to reach out to friends, family, or professionals to support them during this time. Many campuses offer counseling centers which are seeing many more people over the past few years.

Campus mental health statistics paint an alarming picture of the incidence of suicide rates on college campuses and by some measures they are getting worse. Almost one in three students have admitted to considering suicide. Mental health needs on campus are real and serious, they are also growing, which is