College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do about It

With my fourth college freshman ensconced in college, I am sorry that I didn't have this book for reference with my other three children. Each student is different with different needs, stress indicators, and mechanisims for coping with college. This book clearly illustrates the number of ways kids react to college...both positive and negative. No one goes to college today without some form of stress either academically, socially, or emotionally. With the help of this book, college students and their parents have a chance at predicting the challenges and setting out a plan that is specific to preventing serious mental health issues from being so overwhelming. This is a great guide for coping and surviving these stressful years and perhaps leading to happiness and success.

by don dallas, [email protected] "Parents, your job is not over yet, " declared a flier given me at an orientation session for parents of freshmen. The flier warned me that the first eight weeks on campus will be "stressful". It also urged me to talk to my son about alcohol abuse on campus. Until then that college and all others presented themselves as blissful environments of intellectual and human growth. This was the first time it was suggested that college was stressful. The stress, it turns out, often is longer and deeper. The most authoritative source on campus stress, College of the Overwhelmed, The Mental Health Crisis on Campus and What to Do About it, was published in October, 2004, by Richard Kadison, M. D., a psychiatrist who is chief of Mental Health Services at Harvard University, and Theresa Foy DeGeronimo, a writer specializing in parenting and education. Contrary to the impression many parents have had that it is time to leave the kids on their own, the book urges parents to be aware, informed, and watchful. Parents are the "best hope" , Dr. Kadison and Ms. DeGeronimo say. They must engage their college sons and daughters in open, adult-adult (yet non-intrusive) communications not just for eight weeks, but for all four or more of the college years. The book even advises parents to have a "crisis plan" ready in case their college-based children need emergency help. "It's ironic that just when you feel you are setting your children free they often need your support and attention more than ever before." One out of every two students becomes so depressed they cannot function at some point during their college career, it says. One out of two become binge drinkers. Student mental health challenges too often go uncared for: students suffer silently as their already-besieged emotional health erodes further. Almost 10 percent of college students consider suicide. "Parents should also help their children choose a college that is not woefully deficient in the area of ...campus mental health. How can parents tell? The book offers checklists of symptoms to look for and questions for parents to ask campus staff and administrators. The book aims to "open a dialogue, get us talking, and suggest ways we all can face these facts and do something..." It is a seminal work, a goldmine of research, insights and advice. "Listen, Listen, Listen," the authors shout to parents. The mental health crisis on campus is the "elephant in the room nobody is talking about."

I am a psychologist who works in a college counseling center, and I wish that I could make this book required reading for the parents of every new student entering college. Main author Richard Kadison--Chief of the Mental Health Service at Harvard University Health Services--does an excellent job of outlining the many issues which college students face and the ways in which these issues are potentially hazardous to every student's mental health. He also provides extremely useful suggestions for what parents can do to help their college student as well as practical tips for the college students themselves. The only sections of the book which I found to be less effective were the chapter and appendix which focused on what colleges should be doing to address the mental health crisis on campus; this information seemed out of place in a book largely intended for parents. However, the remaining two appendices were more relevant, providing a summary of data from the 2002 American College Health Association Survey results as well as an overview of common medications used to treat psychological conditions. Overall, this a well-done, tremendously valuable book; highly recommended.

This book is very timely, and is of importance. There is a crisis out there, and parents and students need to recognize the problems of being depressed, and that there is something that can and should be done to cope with these disorders. The book is very well written, and easy to read. I feel this book should be read by every parent and every student so they can recognize the signs of depression, and get the help they need. It is a wake-up call, and a real contribtion to mental health. Dr.ERK

My daughter is in her first year of college and experiencing some anxiety. I bought this book on advice from a friend, and found it invaluable. It's easy to read, very informed and informative. Dr. Kadison seems to have a special sensitivity for students. You sense that he really cares and therefore you really want to listen.