(Disclaimer: I am not a mental health professional. I'm sure
professionals in this arena would have a lot to add but this blog is commentary
based on a training I took part in at work. I don't claim to have all the
answers or knowledge, it's just commentary and opinion. This is a two part blog because I had so much to say about this topic that I broke it into two parts. Part II will dive into the "why" kids are struggling with mental illness.)
Part 1:
I recently had a great opportunity at work to participate in
a training called the Student Support Network. The training was developed at
WPI and is used by many colleges across the nation. It was initially created
for students, including resident hall assistants, to teach them how to be an
effective support system for their fellow students. To learn warning signs of
mental illness/suicide, and how to connect friends to support resources like
the counseling center if necessary. It was developed in response to sharp
increases in the numbers of students who were struggling to cope with the
transition from high school to college but also because the increase in
students suffering from mental illness. The idea was to train the "boots
on the ground", aka: the students, to help each other cope.
My campus is also offering this training now to staff,
coaches and faculty because we spend the majority of our time with students in
some capacity and it is becoming increasingly normal for students to disclose
their issues, or mental illness, to staff or faculty. The idea is to train
staff and faculty to recognize certain behaviors and issues so we too can
direct students to get help when necessary and also learn to set healthy boundaries with
these students who seem to have none when it comes to their mental illnesses.
The training ran for seven weeks and it was intense. We learned about depression, suicide, anxiety, as well as other types of mental illness. We learned what to do if someone had a psychotic break in front of us and how to deescalate someone on the brink of a meltdown. Now, about 22 years ago, I worked in a group home for at-risk teenage girls so I had a lot of this type of training when I worked there. But this time it was different.
Maybe because back then those girls had horrible home lives - addicted mothers, abusive fathers and I guess I understood why they were so tortured. I would be depressed too if my father and brother raped me repeatedly. Or if at fifteen, my heroin addicted mother left me alone for days on end and I found comfort in the arms of her forty-year-old drug dealer. Or maybe it's because I'm older, or that I have daughters in this age group. I don't know.
I would leave the training with a pit in my stomach each Tuesday. That pit was a feeling of helplessness and a feeling of sadness and those feelings would linger for a few days. I became acutely aware that these tortured souls were walking along side me as I walked across campus. I now find myself looking around wondering which one of them is going to have a complete psychotic break right before my eyes or is planning to end their life later in the day. As a parent of a college freshman, I can’t help but think who amongst her peers will have a psychotic break in front of her eyes or who she knows that will end their life.
Right now on my small campus, about a quarter of the
students (and climbing) are in treatment at the campus counseling center. This is a fifty percent increase from just a few short years ago.
Mostly
all of those students have some sort of serious mental illness - schizophrenia,
psychotic disorders, bipolar, bulimia, anorexia, panic disorder. A slightly
smaller percentage have less serious disorders like anxiety, social phobias,
attention deficit disorder, personality disorders, etc. Then there are those
students who seek treatment because they don’t know how to resolve conflict
with a roommate or professor, or maybe can’t deal with stress brought on by
being away from home or receiving their first “bad” grade.
The director also mentioned that a small, but increasing,
number of students are coming to the center because they are severely burnt out
from trying to manage their peer's mental issues. Whether that is staying up
all night on suicide watch, resetting a roommate’s nose after he breaks it on
purpose when he’s feeling stressed, or having to manage/pick up after friends
who struggle with substance abuse.
No matter what, everyone is suffering from mental illness in
some way.
We were told about a survey done in 2017 of 161,000 college
students (I will try to find this survey and link it once I get it). Out of the
161,000 students surveyed 39% reported that in the last year they had been so
severely depressed that they couldn’t function. 21% reported that they had
considered ending their life. 2% reported they had attempted ending their life.
Just let that sink in.
39% - 63,000 kids - were so depressed they couldn’t
function.
Can’t function.
21% - 34,000 kids - reported that they had considered ending
their life.
Considered it.
2% - 3,220 kids - attempted ending their life.
Attempted it.
Yet, as the director pointed out, most of these kids who are suffering somehow continue to function. They are
high academic achievers. They appear to “have it all together.” They get good
grades, do internships, and receive accolades.
Unfortunately, my campus isn’t the only campus seeing
upticks in these numbers. It is happening across the nation on all campuses and
professors are on the front line. Students are not shy to disclose their mental
illness/diagnoses in the middle of class. For example, declaring in class that
they can’t participate in a discussion because it will “trigger” a psychotic
break. Okay....you can leave class if you need to....
If you are a parent of a child 18-25 you may be shocked to
read some of the statistics above. Knowing that your kid could be one of the
39% - so depressed they can't function - right now. Or one of the 21% - have recently considered ending their life - right now. Or, one of the 2% - have
attempted to end their life recently. Because as I've learned, neither the campus
counseling center nor campus administrators are allowed (by law) to tell you if your child went in an ambulance for alcohol or drug overdose, or may
have spent the weekend in a hospital for evaluation due to a psychotic break. It's
up to the adult child to do that and if they don't want you to know, you won't.
If you are a parent of a child who suffers from mental
illness, I can’t imagine the worry you must go through every day wondering if
your child will be all right. Especially now that they are adults and can
decide to end treatment or medication without telling you. My heart is with
you. For those who have kids that struggle at school or home for any reason, my
heart is with you too. It’s not easy watching our kids go through something
painful. We just want to help make it all better, but sometimes we can’t.
Our children are living in a very different world than we did. And it has nothing to do with social media. Mental illness is rampant and our children are going to school with peers who are on the brink of psychotic breaks. Maybe they are on the brink themselves. And while your kid may be one of those students who doesn't suffer from mental illness, they are exposed to it much more than we ever were. In fact, I would argue they deal with it more than we do right now in our daily lives. I worry about these kids just as much as the others. I certainly didn't realize how prevalent mental illness is for this age group and it breaks my heart. Not just for the kids who are dealing with mental illness but for the kids who aren't but live with it day in and day out because their peers are.
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