Suicidal thoughts common among college students

Many college students become so distressed at some point they think briefly about killing themselves, according to a new study.

In a Web-based poll of more than 26,000 students at 70 colleges and universities, more than half said they had at least one episode of suicidal thinking at some point in their lives. Two-thirds of those considered suicide on more than one occasion in a 12-month period.

The survey, conducted by the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education and reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Assn. in Boston, also found that 15% of students admitted having seriously considered attempting suicide and more than 5% reported making a suicide attempt.

The majority of the students said the suicidal-thinking was intense but brief, lasting one day or less. More than half of the students who experienced a suicidal crisis did not seek professional help or tell anyone about their thoughts. The students said the reasons for their suicidal thinking were 1) wanting relief from physical or emotional pain 2) problems with romantic relationships 3) the desire to end their life 4) problems with school or academics.

What to make of this? Well, the fact that so many young people had thought about suicide and yet had not told anyone or sought help means the traditional model of helping students in crisis isn't quite working, said researchers from the University of Texas, Austin, who presented the data. It may be more useful, they said, to educate young people that any suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a problem that requires attention. Moreover, they said, a broader cross-section of people on campus should be involved to intervene when students become distressed: teachers, parents, student leaders, faculty and administrators, not just mental health professionals.

-- Shari Roan

Comments

[Sean K]

The reason college students are so depressed is because after spending the last 13 years in a conformity factory that basically amounts to a public insane asylum (public school) we are give about 4 months to decide what we're going to do with the rest of our lives, then we get funneled directly into another huge faceless institution that public school failed miserably to prepare us for, only to be told that when we're finished there probably won't be any jobs in the field we chose anyhow, because the economy stinks, or the job market is glutted, or all the jobs have been outsourced. Not only this, but certain professors and administrators wield their power like debutante queen and can basically refuse to allow you to graduate and cause it all to be a waste of 4 years and $50k because you turned a paper in late to a required class, or a piece of paperwork was misfiled.

[jordan]

If more than half of college students have thought about suicide and not told anyone, is that really proof that the traditional model of helping mentally ill students isn't working?

Maybe it's NORMAL for young people to weigh dark thoughts at some point, even very dark thoughts. It seems clear that the vast majority of young people who think about suicide don't enact it.

If most young people think about suicide at some point, we shouldn't medicalize or pathologize what may be a very normal part of maturing into an adult. One, we don't want to teach people learned helplessness by telling them they're not capable of dealing with certain problems by themselves, and two, we don't want to swamp the already incapable mental health system with people who pose no real risk to themselves.

The REAL issue is figuring out which people are under enough stress that those thoughts become a dangerous or recurring pattern likely to lead to a suicide attempt itself. This is very difficult. The mental health system is not equipped to deal with this yet, and seeking help is stigmatized even when our kids are very, very ill and truly miserable.

I am not trivializing the problem. I am in my twenties myself and have had several episodes of psychotic depression. I have also found that by and large there were almost no medical people really able to help me despite their best intentions. Time is short for all mental health practitioners and money is shorter for those of us who are young and working our first jobs out of college.

Aren't the people most at risk of death by suicide largely males over age 45?

[A Groupie]

The "disease" approach to suicide is one of the problems with how we as a society approach it. We've "recriminalized" suicidal thoughts in such a way that having them can get one admitted to a mental hospital, or we believe that medication is somehow the answer and that thinking of suicide necessarily means the person who thinks of it is mentally ill and just needs pills.

I think we need a new model that acknowledges that not all suicidal thoughts are worthy of hospitalization and medication. Our current approach to suicide seems to be the equivalent of assuming one-size-fits-all, when suicide isn't ONLY caused by the suicidal person needing psychiatric care.

Sometimes they need a place to live or some money to get out of a hopeless financial situation. Sometimes they need a listening, friendly ear that's NOT a professional therapist. Maybe they need a society that is a bit more equal and isn't a pressure cooker of "if you can't succeed in college your life is over."

Of course, we can't do any of that as a society. Handing out money and housing is too expensive when we can just make peeps pay money they don't have for pills to soothe the pain. Befriending people we don't know already is too dangerous, for they may expose us to a world we don't know. And how dare anyone suggest that we consider changing a society that drives suicide by making human beings believe they are worthless garbage if they're not in the rat race for the top. . .of what? -rolls eyes-

*wanders over to xpost this at dailykos*

[Matthew Okada]

That's why they say that college is an investment. One of the best investments you'll ever make--or the worst. Any investment involves risk. The risk is that college may turn out to be a colossal waste of time, money, and effort. Maybe you should have bought a new iPod instead of getting yourself into debt for the rest of your life.

[Re]

I worked at a crisis hotline a while back, and have had plenty of friends who have gone through suicidal bouts, and I, myself, have had suicidal ideation in my life. I am now an adult, in therapy and consider myself to be a very stable person. And, yes, once again, I have had these thoughts in my life - particularly in college. I know I would never attempt to commit suicide even though my thoughts have sometimes scared me. Yes, there are people that do attempt suicide, have attempted it, and will attempt it. They are the reason that we have these protective interventions. And, according to the research referenced in this article, that number is 5%. For the other 15% that have seriously thought about it, and the much larger population that “just” think about, those people also need a place to go to talk about these thoughts without fear of extreme reaction. They aren’t the 5%, but need a place to safely disclose their feelings. I agree with A Groupie's and jordan's comments. The way our culture is set up, sometimes it truly is NORMAL to have these thoughts.

We are at war. The economy does appear to be in shambles. Aside from all that, life is very confusing at times. Meanwhile, we are force fed consumerism and messages of being "happy!" and "successful!" We are led to believe that any deviation from the “norm” aka, happiness and success is wrong, or worse, a pathology. Sadness is considered a no-no. Anger is considered a no-no. Admitting difficulties is considered a no-no. I've heard people say that a mild form of depression is sometimes a normal reaction to living in a manic society.

One thing I learned while working on the crisis hotline is that there IS a difference between people that a) want relief to their emotional pain, and b) those that really truly want to die. I considered the people in the first category to not be actively suicidal, but wanting a different way to live and not seeing any other out than to "roll over and play dead". There are a lot of people that don't trust telling their therapists these thoughts for the fear of being "locked up" in a hospital. And there are some people that actually want to be hospitalized to finally get help. And, yes, there ARE people that are truly suicidal.

There are ways to assess one's suicidality. For the ones that have an immediate plan, have the means, etc... intervention is necessary. But for the others, they need a voice to share all this with. A good therapist can't be afraid of their client's thoughts or the client won't feel a sense of trust in sharing them. Worse, a client can feel even more abnormal and/or shameful for having them. This, of course, leads to further isolation and depression. And how can anyone work through anything without being able to talk about it freely without judgment and without fear of repercussion? Isn't that the point of therapy?

Instead of further pathologizing suicidal thoughts, therapists need to know the differences in suicidality. They need to do clear assessments to sort out the 5% from everyone else. But, in order to do that, they need to be seen as people who, above all else, are not afraid of darkness in order to accompany their clients through their own.

[JD]

Depression is not a disease!
You are depressed by depressing facts!
Some people are not equipped to ignore all the deaths, murders, torture, abuse, opression, etc, etc... going on in the world right now.
So, who are more sick?
The ones who see these attrocities and react to them?
Or the one who just happily ignore them and continue to sleep/work/consume, sleep/work/consume...?

[kara]

i think they do this because of parents pressuring them to do something with thier life.....

[Ryan Baldwin]

O.k. I'm in college right now. and I definitely don't think it's NORMAL for a maturing adult to have to experience suicidal thought after suicidal thought every night before he goes to sleep. And people saying that this is normal is all the more reason to say forget life, especially if having to go through this kinda crap is NORMAL.