Mental Health Problems On Campus: Nationwide Push For Colleges To Prioritize Psychiatric Support
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009Filed under: Themes, The UpDown Report
Arcadio Morales, one of six residence deans at Stanford University, has lived in an apartment in the campus dorms for 15 years, often fielding late-night phone calls from students about everything from Frisbee injuries to mid-term anxiety to alcohol poisoning. He says some arriving freshmen have always packed emotional baggage along with their laptops and books. But the mix of problems he’s called to weigh in on has become more serious in recent years.
“Early on,” he says, “most of the issues that surfaced were roommate issues, compatibility issues.” He still gets that sort of thing, along with the calls from “very involved” parents who want him, for example, to go down the hall and wake up their son or daughter. But these days, Morales is getting more calls about students in need of substantial psychiatric support.
“We’re getting students that wouldn’t have been here 10 years ago,” Morales says, “because they’re on antidepressants or antipsychotic medication, and they’re functioning fairly well.” But it can be a big challenge for colleges when these students have crises, he says.
National epidemiological studies confirm that what Morales is seeing is happening on campuses nationwide, irrespective of the type of college or its size …
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Part of Tom Wootton’s standard opening to his talks on mental illness is to pause, scan the audience and call for a show of hands. ”How many of you have a condition such as bipolar, schizophrenia or depression?” he’ll ask and then do a quick count. “Quite a few. That’s wonderful.” Wonderful? Personality disorders, often debilitating and source of much heartache, are rarely spoken of in such glowing terms. Yet, Wootton, 53, is not your average advocate for the mentally ill. Diagnosed with all three conditions in 2002, the former Silicon Valley high-tech executive has made it his calling to point out the positives that come with the illness. As he wrote in his 2005 memoir, “The Bipolar Advantage,” controlled episodes of manic behavior and hallucinations, and even the flip side, depression, can be harnessed to one’s betterment. His new book, “Bipolar in Order,” is slated to be published in late September. The Sacramento Bee talked recently to Wootton. Here are the highlights:
