Page 2 - News - University of West Florida

2
October 15, 2003
NEWS
V
The
OYAGER
Depression increasing among college students
Mara McDermott
Staff Writer
Everyone is at risk for depression, especially college students.
More than 19 million Americans
suffer from depression every year,
according to the National Mental
Health Association.
At the University of West Florida
Counseling Center, approximately
half the students who come to the
center are being treated for depression, University Psychologist Kelly
Meek said.
University counseling centers
across the nation are experiencing
an increase in the number and the
severity of depression cases, said
Jeff Pollard, UWF Counseling
Center Director.
“We all have this potential to
become depressed, and sometimes
the considerable stress of attending
college can precipitate depression,”
said Pollard, who is also the president of the American Academy of
Counseling Psychology.
Last year, the UWF Counseling
Center saw more than 450 students
for a total of 3,000 client hours. Of
those treated, 16 percent identified
themselves as freshmen, 18 percent
as sophomores, 26 percent as juniors, 17 percent as seniors and 9.5
percent as graduate students.
According to the NHMA, “At
colleges nationwide, large percentages of college students are feeling
overwhelmed, sad, hopeless and so
depressed they are unable to function.”
Ten percent of college students
have been diagnosed with depression, and in 1998, suicide was the
second leading cause of death in the
college population, the NMHA
reported.
A 13-year study conducted by
psychologists at Kansas State
University surveyed more than
13,000 students who sought help at
the university’s counseling center.
From 1988 to 2001, they found that
the number of students with depression doubled, the number of suicidal
students tripled and the number of
students seen after a sexual assault
quadrupled.
Depression is a growing problem
at colleges, and students need to be
aware of the causes and the treatments available.
COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS THAT CAN CAUSE DEPRESSIVE FEELINGS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
All-or-nothing thinking: You restrict possibilities and options to only two choices: yes or no (all or nothing).
Over generalization: You view a single, negative event as a continuing and never-ending pattern of defeat.
Negative mental filter: You dwell mostly on the negatives and generally ignore the positives.
Discounting the positives: You insist your achievements or positive efforts do not count.
Jumping to conclusions:
a. Mind-reading: You assume people are reacting negatively to you without any objective evidence.
b. Fortune-telling: You predict things will turn out badly without any objective evidence.
Magnification or minimization: You blow things way out of proportion or minimize their importance.
Emotional reasoning: You base your reasoning from your feelings. “I feel like a loser, so I must be one.”
“Mustabatory thinking” or “Shoulding All Over Yourself:” You criticize yourself or other people with “musts,”
“shoulds,” “oughts,” and “have tos.”
Labeling: Instead of saying “I made a mistake,” you tell yourself “I’m an idiot” or “I’m a loser.”
Personalization: You blame yourself almost completely for something for which you were not entirely
responsible.
(Adapted from “Feeling Good“ by David D. Burns, MD from the University of Hawaii’s Web site)
The NMHA lists several factors
that can trigger depressive behavior.
• Biological: Too little or too
much of certain brain chemicals
• Cognitive: Negative thinking
patterns (See Information box on
Cognitive Distortions)
• Genetic: Family history of
depression
• Situational: Difficult life events
• Medications: Some cause
depression
College students must realize
that consumption of alcohol and
drugs also affects their chances for
depression. Some drugs, such as
Ecstasy, can even cause permanent
depression by overtaxing the serotonin pumps in the brain, Pollard
said.
There are three things students
can do to prevent depressive behavior: eat well, meditate or pray and
exercise regularly. Studies have
shown that regular, intense physical
activity is a wonderful preventative
and treatment for depression. It raises the body’s core temperature, stimulating the nervous system, Pollard
said.
Depression is not something a
person can just snap out of. It is a
real illness that is treatable in 80 percent of all cases. Severe cases of
depression require medication as
well as counseling. The most commonly prescribed anti-depressants
are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Prozac and Zoloft
SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
•
A persistent sad, anxious or “empty” mood
• Sleeping too little or sleeping too much
• Reduced appetite and weight loss, or increased
appetite and weight gain
• Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
• Restlessness or irritability
• Chronic aches and pains not explained by
another physical condition
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
• Thoughts of death or suicide
*See your doctor or a qualified mental health
professional if you experience FIVE or more
of these symptoms for longer than two weeks
or if the symptoms are severe enough to
interfere with your daily routine.
From the National Mental Health Association’s Web site.
are two well-known types of these
medications, which increase the
amount of serotonin absorbed by
nerve cells in the brain.
“They don’t make you feel
high,” Meek said. “They just get you
to the level where other people are.”
Depression is a “red flag,” indicating that something needs to
change in a person’s life, she said.
“It’s important to address those
things, or we’ll stay depressed forever,” Meek said.
At the Living Well Workshop on
Oct. 7, Meek gave some tips for
helping a friend who is dealing with
depression. She suggested that students talk and listen to their friends,
and ask them if they are suicidal. If
so, they can get help from the
Counseling Center. Students should
also try to get them to go to the center, taking them if necessary.
Students should call and consult a
counselor if they are worried, she
said.
The UWF Counseling Center is
in Building 19 and is open from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday. The
service is free to students, and treatment is confidential. Call 474-2420
for appointments.
UMADD helps students get involved in DUI education
• UMADD, FROM PAGE 1
to accomplish, and what primary
law enforcement concerns were
applicable.
It was Bobe’s efforts that
brought the UMADD chapter to
campus. She contacted the proper
officials and spent months compiling statistical data on underage
drinking and drunken driving in the
local area. Her research paid off, and
the chapter was finally established.
Cagle emphasized that UMADD
is not completely against the consumption of alcohol, just its abuse.
She hopes that an organization on
campus will help others become
positively influenced by someone
other than an adult.
“I’m a concerned citizen,” Cagle
said. “ I don’t want to be the victim
of a drunken driver, and I don’t want
anyone else to be the victim of a
drunken driver. Usually it is after
somebody has become a victim that
they become involved in a program
like MADD. We need everyone to
try to make a difference, and let people know the dangers of underage
drinking and drinking and driving.”
Cagle said she believes the best
way to make an impact is through
education and peer influence. She
said that MADD is helpful to the
victims of drunken driving and was
instrumental in getting the legal
blood alcohol limit lowered from
.10 to 0.08, which has caused a sig-
nificant increase in the number of
DUI arrests in Santa Rosa and
Escambia counties.
UWF and other local police
departments are planning to conduct
various DUI checkpoints in the area
to help detract people from driving
under the influence. While Officer
Bobe will be helping the officers
work the checkpoint, UMADD
members will be providing snacks
and refreshments for the police that
are on their feet throughout the
night.
“It sounds silly, but when we try
to get somebody (under the influence) to pull into a right lane or left
lane, they don’t know which way to
go,” Bobe said. “These people are
the ones who run over the cones as
Successful teachers make good
administrators, Halonen says
• DEAN, FROM PAGE 1
She also plans to develop strategies to improve the CAS’ presence in
and impact on the communities of
Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach,
promote new programs to exploit
opportunities in the current context,
collaborate with emerging campus
technology plans to maintain efficient
and equitable technology support, and
improve the quality of professional
life for college members.
“My welcome seems to go on, as
I continue meeting with the different
departments, they greet me with glittered banners saying ‘Welcome Jane’
and ‘A lovely thanks to you,’”
Halonen said. “Every person from the
custodial staff to the University president has been so warm. I chose the
University of West Florida because it
was one of the best things I could do.
“I am a teacher in my heart. I love
being in a classroom because I have
had a pretty good track record of success there. Yet, many colleagues feel
that I have joined the dark side, the
administration. They would ask ‘Why
would a good teacher want to go to
administration?’ Well, good teachers
are the kind of people you should
want in administration. The administration needs someone who recognizes what good teachers have to
make the experience optimal for students.”
Halonen said that she has an opendoor policy where she welcomes all
faculty, staff and especially students to
come and meet with her. One of her
goals is to meet with students strategically by visiting classrooms or the
Commons area, and meeting with student organizations.
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they try to pull in. They don’t even
make it to the point where the officers are waiting to check them out.”
It is at this point that the driver is
arrested for DUI.
Those who attended the first
UMADD meeting hope to prevent
alcohol-related arrests, injuries and
deaths. Lacy Mittry, a UWF sophomore, had a personal reason for
attending. She and her family were
close to former UWF student Lisa
Dickson, who, along with her friend
Meagan Napier, was killed by a
drunken driver last year.
Mittry said she was very glad to
see a group like UMADD come to
campus.
“I want to make more students
and others in the community stop
drinking and driving,” she said. “I
was a member of SADD (Students
Against Drunk Driving) in high
school.
“It costs so much to get a DUI,”
she said. ‘I don’t let any of my
friends drive drunk.”
The next UMADD meeting will
be Tuesday, Oct. 21. For more information, contact Bobe at 474-3274.