A national rise in counseling for mental health issues is affecting college campuses, including OU.

Mental Health Issues



o At many colleges across the country, a growing number of college students are turning to local health services to receive counseling and diagnoses of mental health disorders.



o Students seek counseling for a wide range of reasons, including identifying problems with depression and anxiety that arise from pressures put on them by parents and teachers.



o There is a greater subscription among physicians to a more liberal definition of mental health issues. What was once considered as average emotional behavior may now be diagnosed as a more serious mental health issue.



Source: Ben Locke, assistant director of research and technology in counseling and psychological services at Pennsylvania State University

During fall 2004 and spring and summer 2005, OU Counseling and Testing Services saw an 11 percent increase in student use of counseling services from the previous year, said Michael Daves, associate director of Counseling and Testing Services. He said there has been a 6 percent increase in counseling services to OU students each year for the past 10 years.

Daves said their current indications suggest this trend will continue into the semester.

"Last year we did not have the anticipated slowdown in the summer and pre-midterm period," Daves said in an e-mail. "We started busy and stayed busy; and still are."

The increase is a national trend, regardless of what group of people you look at, said Ben Locke, assistant director of research and technology in counseling and psychological services at Pennsylvania State University.

"Mental health diagnoses are on the rise whether it is for depression, anxiety or other mental health issues," Locke said. "That increase is reflected in the college student population."

Daves said he thinks the more recent increase reflects college students' growing recognition and acceptance of personal counseling as useful, accessible and nothing to be embarrassed about.

OU Counseling and Testing offers help with more traditional conditions like depression and anxiety, but counseling is now seen as having a wider range of applications, Daves said.

"The old stigma of mental illness associated counseling and psychology no longer applies," Daves said. "Students come here for help in adjusting to a new place, seek assistance with relationship complications, and tougher issues such as the loss of a loved one or serious illness."

Ann Beutel, sociology professor, said she agrees that the increase could be due to greater awareness of these services, but there could also be additional reasons.

"More highly visible things we've seen nationwide might have had an impact on people going to see counselors," Beutel said.

She said an example of "highly visible" events are the suicide of two New York University students in 2003. The students committed suicide exactly one month apart, both jumping from a balcony of the NYU Elmer Holmes Bobst Library.

Another recent example is the death of Joel Henry Hinrichs III. The OU mechanical engineering junior killed himself with a bomb Saturday night during the OU/Kansas State University football game.

Beutel said other reasons might include difficulty combining studies with paid work and family obligations.

"People are under a lot of pressure to get good grades," Beutel said. "But I don't know how the felt pressure has increased."

Locke said that while he thinks the amount of pressure and demands on college students results in depression and anxiety, there are other possibilities to consider.

Another reason for the college increase is better treatment, Locke said. He said there did not used to be effective treatment for mental illness, so people dealing with mental health issues found it more difficult to get into college.

There might also be a more liberal definition of mental health issues, which leads to more diagnoses, Locke said.

"Standards are shifting somewhat," Locke said. "What once seemed like normal ups and downs are sometimes diagnosed [as depression or anxiety]."

He said more people are seeking help, but there may also be more people diagnosing, such as physicians, who can now diagnose and treat mental health issues.

"There is still a stigma surrounding the treatment of mental health," Locke said. "People feel more comfortable talking about a sprained ankle rather than mental illness."
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