As fall semester gets underway at colleges and universities across the country, the massacre that took place in Spring 2007 at Virginia Tech is still very much on people's minds—at least on the minds of parents and administrators, even legislators. A Virginia state panel that investigated the shooting recently issued a report containing more than 90 recommendations for avoiding such a tragedy. It's not unreasonable to question what universities are doing, and what they can do, to look after the mental health of individual students and to assure the safety of everyone else.
There's no question that, across the board, colleges are seeing a significant rise in the frequency and seriousness of mental health disorders among students. And most institutions are expanding the resources for making help available to troubled students.
According to the National Survey of Counseling Center Directors 2006, the ratio of counselors to students is one to 1,697—though smaller schools have smaller ratios. On average, counseling centers saw 9 percent of enrolled students in 2006.
Ninety two percent of campus counseling center directors report that the number of students with severe psychological problems has increased in recent years. Directors find that 40 percent of their clients have severe psychological problems; 8 percent have impairment so serious they cannot remain in school or can do so only with extensive psychological/psychiatric help. Thirty-two percent experience severe problems but "can be treated with available treatment modalities."
Colleges are quick to point out that they are not, and never can be, therapeutic communities. Their primary goal is provide education, not therapy, and resources are ultimately finite.
Colleges attribute the rise in mental health disorders on campus to a variety of factors. One of the most significant contributors is earlier diagnosis and treatment of disorders among young people and the availability of medications like Prozac that help people function well enough to stay in the academic system; a generation ago, emotionally troubled students would likely have fallen by the wayside. Another major contributing factor is the changing population of college attendees, with more students from more backgrounds attending college. It's not that students are getting crazier, campus mental health counselors say, it's that the college population is getting to be more like the population outside the campus.
The recent report about the Virginia Tech shooting made a few things clear: The student who went on the shooting rampage had a long history of mental health problems—teachers had noted serious signs of trouble at least since middle school. No one followed up to see that the student received counseling that had been mandated after a prior commitment to a psychiatric hospital. And university officials themselves were confused about the interpretation of privacy laws and so did not share information with the student's parents about his mental health. Of course, it's not certain that any such actions could have prevented the incident. And at a meeting of college administrators shortly after the shooting, many recognized that it could just have well happened on any of their campuses.
Of the recommendations by the Virginia panel, most were not targeted at mental health services but at emergency procedures and campus security. But the panel did suggest that high schools forward students' mental health records to college after admittance. And it recommended that a threat-assessment team be set up once a student is known to be seriously troubled, and the mental health information should be communicated not only to that team but to university offices and the student's parents.
By many measures, today's college students are experiencing more stress. Stress and anxiety disorders are increasing on college campuses. At the same time, observers report, students have fewer coping skills. A 2006 survey of freshman conducted annually by the University of California at Los Angeles found that more than 30 percent of students feel overwhelmed a great deal of time.
Many observers believe that the provision of adequate campus counseling resources is only part of the solution. Equally important is the responsibility of families to see that children develop an adequate range of coping skills so they can meet the emotional challenges entailed in leaving home for college and functioning independently.
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