Today’s student: stressed, depressed, in debt

Gee, they don’t look depressed!

AP poll: Many students stressed, some depressed

By NANCY BENAC and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers 7 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Stress over grades. Financial worries. Trouble sleeping. Feeling hopeless.

So much for those carefree college days.

The vast majority of college students are feeling stressed these days, and significant numbers are at risk of depression, according to an Associated Press-mtv-U poll

Eighty-five percent of the students reported feeling stress in their daily lives in recent months, with worries about grades, school work, money and relationships the big culprits.

At the same time, 42 percent said they had felt down, depressed or hopeless several days during the past two weeks, and 13 percent showed signs of being at risk for at least mild depression, based on the students’ answers to a series of questions that medical practitioners use to diagnose depressive illness.

These students complained of trouble sleeping, having little energy or feeling down or hopeless — and most hadn’t gotten professional help. Eleven percent had had thoughts that they’d be better off dead or about hurting themselves.

That’s not just a case of the blues to be shrugged off by taking a break with Facebook or going for a workout.

Kristin Potts, who graduated from Penn State last week with a 4.0 in chemistry and will go on for a master’s, says she’s seen warning signs among fellow classmates.

“I had a couple friends who didn’t come out of their rooms very much,” she said. “I tried my hardest not to be like that, but I definitely saw it.”

At the University of Maryland in College Park, students were sobered by two suicides within two weeks this past semester.

“It was pretty scary,” says Aimee Mayer, a junior studying psychology. She says there’s lots of information and help available for students with mental disorders, but “there’s still a stigma associated with mental health issues and so a lot of people don’t want to go to those services. They feel like they’re less cool or something like that if they go. It’s like a sign of vulnerability.”

Megan Salame, a sophomore studying civil engineering at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., says she’d turn first to her parents if she felt depressed. But she hastened to add, “Depressed — I don’t really like to use that word because it sounds so negative.”

Mental health disorders like depression typically begin relatively early in life, doctors say, and college is a natural time for symptoms to emerge.

The AP-mtvU poll surveyed students at 40 U.S. colleges, exploring the students’ state of mind and the pressures they face, including strains from the tough economy. It found substantial numbers of students with symptoms of depression, many of them failing to receive professional help. Among the poll results:

_Nine percent of students were at risk of moderate to severe depression. That’s in line with a recent medical study that found 7 percent of young people had depression.

_Almost a quarter of those with a parent who had lost a job during the school year showed signs of at least mild depression, more than twice the percentage of those who hadn’t had a parent lose a job. More than twice as many students whose parents had lost a job said they had seriously considered ending their own life, 13 percent to 5 percent.

_Among those who reported serious symptoms of moderate depression or worse, just over a quarter had ever been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

_More than half of those who reported having seriously considered suicide at some point in the previous year had not received any treatment or counseling.

_Just a third of those with moderate symptoms of depression or worse had received any support or treatment from a counselor or mental health professional since starting college.

_Nearly half of those diagnosed with at least moderate symptoms weren’t familiar with counseling resources on campus.

Anne Marie Albano, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University, said college is a “tender age” developmentally, a period when young adults start taking responsibility for their lives. They’re selecting careers, moving toward financial independence, establishing long-term relationships, perhaps marrying, having children.

The most troubling thing coming out of the AP-mtvU poll and other studies of young adults dealing with depression, she said, is that “they don’t get help” at a time when they’re just venturing off on their own.

“They have to learn to become their own monitors about their mental health and yet they have no training to do that,” she said.

Alison Malmon, whose older brother, Brian, committed suicide when she was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, decided to do something about it. After searching unsuccessfully for a group that she could bring to campus that would encourage students to talk about mental health issues and seek help, Malmon created Open Minds. That group has grown into the nonprofit Active Minds, with chapters on more than more than 200 campuses.

Malmon, 27, executive director of the nonprofit, says students don’t have to worry about how to draw the line between everyday blues and clinical depression.

“You don’t need to have a serious, diagnosable depression to go talk to someone,” she said. “If you feel down or if you feel like you’re not yourself, go talk to somebody about it.”

The AP-mtvU poll found that 84 percent of students said they’d know where to turn for help if they were in serious emotional distress or thinking about hurting themselves. Most said they’d go first to friends or family. Twenty percent said they’d try school counseling.

That means it may be up to friends and family to guide students toward professional help where warranted, said Malmon.

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health, said students need to understand that depression is “a very treatable illness.” Campus counseling centers are a good resource, he said, although they’re not all set up take care of serious mental illnesses.

“There should be somebody there who could at least assess this, and in some cases offer reassurance that ‘I’m sure you’ll feel better after exams are over,’” he said. Serious cases can be referred for treatment, he said — “and treatment works.”

Depressive disorders afflict an estimated 9.5 percent of adult Americans in a given year, or about 20.9 million people. The median age for onset is 30.

According to the mental health institute, the first step to getting appropriate treatment is to visit a doctor. Certain medications and medical conditions, such as viruses or a thyroid disorder, can cause the same symptoms as depression. If doctors rule out a medical cause, then they should conduct a psychological evaluation or refer the patient to a mental health professional.

The poll was conducted April 22 to May 4 by Edison Media Research and involved interviews with 2,240 undergraduate students ages 18-24 at four-year colleges. To protect privacy, the schools where the poll was conducted are not being identified, the students who responded were not asked for their names and people interviewed for this story were not part of the survey. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The TV network mtvU is operated by the MTV Networks division of Viacom and available at many colleges. MtvU’s sponsorship of the poll is related to its mental-health campaign “Half of Us,” which it runs with the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit group that works to reduce suicide among young people.

Associated Press writers Ann Sanner in Washington and Genaro Armas in State College, Pa., AP Television Producer Faryl Ury and Multimedia Editor Kevin Vineys contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Interactive Poll: http://tinyurl.com/q9xzgj

My comments: Suicide is an answer to your world’s problems but it is never the right answer, or even a good answer. Never. For one thing, think of all the effort put forth by OTHER people to help you get to where you are today, which is a somewhat mature, thinking (tho depressed, maybe) human being. Even though you may not remember it or even have known about it, unless you were raised by wolves in the forest, there have always been circles of people who helped you—from being a tiny, crapping, crying helpless infant to your current state of being—a stressed, depressed, hopelessly in debt—student. You may have hated some of them for doing their part. But, here you are. Don’t you think you owe them something? Like finding the will to stick around in your body to see what happens? It could get very interesting for you. Just 8 months ago, many people thought Barack Hussein Obama could never become President of the United States. Whamo!

Well, guess what—being a student means you have some time to figure things out, time that is either given to you or loaned to you. You are in the best possible place a maturing person can be, surrounded by a ’somewhat alike’ yet diverse crowd of others with similar problems or challenges. Surrounded by somewhat older persons who have been through what you are going through and who decided to spend their lives helping you and your friends get going to where you think you want to be with their tiny little contribution of knowledge and experience.

It’s all here for you. Everything you have was given to you, loaned to you, and you chose it, you chose to accept it. So, here you are. Life can be confusing. There are a lot of choices to make. Isn’t that exciting? Think of life as a TV game show for a moment. Don’t you think the suicides would like to have your body now and have the brain to study and make choices about how to play the game, what to do in this world? I, for one, think they would. They would love to have your body and your mind.

If you are just fed up, stressed out, freaked out, or in the dumps, here is what I would do: drop out. It doesn’t matter what year of college you are in. Female or male—drop out of college for one full year, not just a semester, a full year. Get a job somewhere near or on your campus. Get a small room with cheap rent, in town. Work as a dishwasher in a cafe or bar. Work your way up to barback, then maybe to bartender or waiter. Serve people. Serve people your own age, too. After about 3 or 4 months of earning your daily bread, watching and serving ‘college students’, your point-of-view will begin to change. Roll with it. You’ve got 7 or 8 more months of work that you committed to. Even if you have the shittiest shit as a boss, keep your job. Do everything you can to keep your job. Just keep doing it and do it a little better every day. Do it until it becomes easier. Never take drugs at or before work. You gotta do it straight; otherwise, you will miss getting what you need.

Yeah, it’s OK to date, go to concerts, have the life of a young person. There will be confusing problems there too, but you have a steady back up—you have a job. You are learning a craft or a trade or a service. Not a profession. Not an Easy Street ‘position’. Just a job, like most regular folks have. For their entire lives. After about 6 months, you will see ‘college students’ in a new light. You will see college professors in a new light.

After 10 months of labor, repetitive labor, the same thing 5 or 6 days a week, you will also see time in a different light. Time will either stretch, or it will collapse. It will affect you differently. You won’t want to sleep all the time.

Sure, you can go to the library, read everything you see that interests you. Start with the magazines, who cares, you aren’t in CLASS! You are just a working person. You’re snooping, you’re sniffing around life. Life in your own self-made cocoon. No one can tell you what to do, except when to be at work where you must do whatever your shitty boss says (except have sex with him or her). Don’t do that. It will be messy and you will lose your job. Then you will lose your room when you can’t pay the rent. Then you are homeless, which is a difficult place to look for a new job from…

There is only one other MUST NOT DO during your year of living Real Life. If you are a woman, you must NOT get pregnant. If you are a young man, you must NOT knock up a woman, or girl. You must not have a child, not this year. That would change everything in many ways that you don’t need yet.

After your year of ‘being different’, of ‘taking a break’, of ‘playing a role’, of ‘having a lark’, of ‘being bohemian’… whatever you want to call it… you need to become a college student again. However you can. Keep your job part-time, ask your parents for some money, get a grant, get a loan, sell your car and get a bike, make something and sell it— whatever you have to do to take a few classes… you are a college student again. And you now have many reasons for being one. Not just being one because it’s expected of you. It’s your life now. Choose the classes you want. It may take 6 years to get your degree. So? And remember to say ‘thank you’ every day, even if you just say it to your self.

As choices present themselves, make the best choice you know how at the time, (make a ‘Ben Franklin’ list, go with your gut, whatever) give that path or time or class or person  your attention and don’t look back, no regrets. You may still be emotional in your reactions. But just don’t react emotionally right away… wait a few hours or days. By next year, you’ll know more. And so on. As my mom always reminded me: “aw, you’re just going through a phase, you’ll be through it soon enough.” I still laugh about that.

The above is not advice, so don’t take it as advice. I would never advise someone I don’t even know (you!) It’s about someone else. It’s a short story. A very short story, a blink in the eternity of time on a small self-contained rock in a college town full of people, somewhere where you are now.

If I wish you anything, it’s mind freedom and good luck.

PS: Oh yeah, if you are a music or fine arts student: don’t fret about any of the above—you’ll get used to it. Just practice.

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