Colleges and suicide

sac
Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:08:57 +0000

I agree with you. I didn’t mean to apply that medication was always the answer. I was just highlighting the point in the article that one of the reasons for college suicide is that some students come with a long history of problems and don’t seek help, rather than that college puts so much stress on kids they break. College is stressful of course, and drinking/drug use can make things worse – especially if it’s an attempt by a student at self-medication. But the point of the article was that some of the most vulnerable kids (as evidenced by their diagnoses or histories) arrive without the college knowing who they are. Perhaps before medications, some of these students would not have attempted college far away from home. I don’t know.

My question about the forced leaves, though, wasn’t that they might push a kid over the edge. They’re meant to do the opposite, give the student time to regroup and address problems. It was whether a student, knowing that they might be forced to leave, might not seek help from the college services.