Which universities are suitable for mentally ill students?

Gaiden · May 10, 2010, 8:10pm

If the student has a mental illness like bipolar disorder, social anxiety, depression, a personality disorder, or any other mental illness that affects his ability and desire to socialize and develop social skills, and neither therapy nor medications have been effective, but the student, despite his mental illness, is still capable of learning and doing well academically (ie: he doesn’t have a learning or intellectual disability), what type of university, if any, should he attend?

Is he better off attending a large university where he will likely find anonymity which might help him concentrate on his school work despite his mental illness?

Is he better off attending to a small liberal arts school full of preppies who might be nice to him but at the same time be puzzled by his outward behavior and appearance?

Is he better off attending a community college where no one will care about his appearance or interpersonal abilities? Or is he better off doing something else?

Emaheevul07 · May 10, 2010, 8:24pm

I don’t know if you can make any generalizations about this, besides a school whose disabilities services assists the mentally ill-- because even if you think you don’t think you need anything, you never know until you get there. And of course adequate counseling services-- which means good appointment availability, and preferably not a limit on the number of visits-- or else a good referral to a doctor in town that is easy to get to. Otherwise, what is good for one mentally ill student is not necessarily going to be good for another student with the same illness. There is also the matter of whether or not the stress of living independently and of college level work allows for the student to be far from home, some mentally ill students need to be close to home while others could go across the continent with no problem.

cptofthehouse · May 10, 2010, 10:06pm

I agree you cannot make generalizations at all about this. For those students who still need supervision, commuting is probably the best option. I have a friend whose anorexic daughter turned down some top school admissions because she really needed someone to keep a close eye on her. It turned out to be a good decision, as she relapsed twice.

blossom · May 10, 2010, 10:31pm

I had a severely depressed suicidal roommate my freshman year in college. IMHO, it is cruel and unrealistic for parents to expect a 17 year old with no experience managing mental illness to “look out” for their child who needs an entire support team to make it through the semester. No college living situation can approximate the attention and care required by someone with an mental illness. Especially on a campus where the on- call physician says “Call 911 if she’s threatening to hurt herself” and where it could take a week or more to get an appointment with the shrink.

nngmm · May 10, 2010, 10:35pm

I think this kind of student should live at home and commute to school. The “type” of school is less important than the living situation.

Olymom · May 10, 2010, 10:55pm

I think I would have the student look at Landmark College in Vermont to see if there was any part of that program that was helpful.

Wow. I have to say that, thinking the challenges of college life through, the student might do well to be older before trying to live independently or with an unknown roommate (there is a BIG difference between 17 and 19. Even bigger between 17 and 21).

There is no law that says that college has to be conquered in four years. A student might try a local school so that the doctor and friends and family connections are in place. Then, once the toe has been dipped into the academic waters successfully, other options could be evaluated.

Work can be a stabilizing force for many lives. Some times there are state programs that help a person enter into a “sheltered” workplace. This could mean a meaningful job with a supportive supervisor – and that could then be the backdrop for taking one or two college level classes, either locally or on-line.

One can have challenges with social skills and have anxiety disorders and still enjoy having some friends. I think I would look for ways that some connections could be made – whether it is a mutual interest in trains, orchids, sword collecting . . .whatever.

I think I would encourage the student to break the process down into steps before moving to another city and trying a full academic load.

Gaiden · May 10, 2010, 11:03pm

nngmm, that’s an interesting thought. Why do you think such students are better off living at home? Can on-campus housing really be such a challenge for students with mental illnesses?

sylvan8798 · May 10, 2010, 11:16pm

I’ve taught at both a large university and a small catholic school, and I would NEVER put a student like this in a large university, even if they commute from home. NEVER. Depending on how well they could manage, I would probably go with part time schooling at a modest community college and see how things went from there. Any ideas on a major?

Northstarmom · May 10, 2010, 11:17pm

It’s not the housing that would be the challenge: It’s living away from home and the stress of going to college, something that is stressful for all students, not just those who have mental illnesses.

For students with mental illness, though, the stress of adapting to a new environment could lead to a relapse in their illness. If the student were living at home, more than likely, the student’s family and regular therapist would recognize that the student was getting ill, and would help the student get the help the student needs.

College roommates, however wouldn’t know the student is getting ill nor would a roommate know what to do. Professors aren’t like parents. Professors don’t see students much and in most cases don’t know students well enough to know if the student is showing signs of mental illness. And if the student’s illness leads the student to skip class, the professors wouldn’t even see the student. It’s not as if profs track down students who stop attending class. In most cases, the professors just flunk such students.

Also, if the student has moved away from the place where their therapist is, the student would have to find a new therapist, and that new therapist would take a while to become familiar enough with the student to know how to help the student.

If the student has chosen a college in, for instance, a rural area, there may not be therapists in that location with the experience or the space in their caseload to help. In some places, due to a shortage of mental health practitioners, it may take weeks to be seen.

College counseling centers typically provide short term treatment for relatively minor mental health problems. Students with serious problems like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia would be referred to treatment off campus with a professional who could see them more frequently and for longer periods of time.

Olymom · May 10, 2010, 11:27pm

Depends on the dorm. Some have the partying start at 5 p.m and it goes on 'til dawn with drinking, loud music, abundant sex and vomiting in the hall trash cans.

Some are just busy places. Some have no alcohol rules and quiet hours.

The living situation, IMHO, is crucial. Classes are challenging. When one returns to one’s “nest” it needs to be a place where one can re charge.

It is true that some dorms and colleges are wonderfully warm. There may be some outgoing kids that make a real effort to reach the quiet person and who are very tolerant of someone being a bit different (For some reason Goucher College springs into my brain. Maybe I’ve heard it is a kind place).

So, visiting campuses is always a good idea. The dorm with the dumpster full of vodka bottles might not be the best choice for a student with anxiety issues.

I just googled “friendly colleges” and one choice that came up was a website on “Disability Friendly Colleges” which seems to have a mental health component.

Olymom · May 10, 2010, 11:29pm

Again, taking a class or two locally might help a great deal in sorting out what is needed to succeed. Summer session?

haavain · May 10, 2010, 11:32pm

I would not generalize. Mental illness, as the OP has defined it here, is a pretty broad category, encompassing large groups of people who might have trouble socializing with people normally, but who are perfectly stable otherwise.

I have social anxiety. I know quite a few kids who have SAD and various analogous disorders, all of whom went or are going away to college. I think all of us would chafe at having to spend four more years at home, and personally? Being told I had to commute to college because of my “illness” would do much, much more damage to my mental health than being away ever could.

I suspect the people on this thread saying “commute from home” are thinking of troubles much more serious than my personal affliction (ha), but since SAD was mentioned I felt I had to say something.

HImom · May 10, 2010, 11:46pm

When there is doubt (as there obviously is because the thread was started), I’d agree with the suggestion that the student start with a few courses & commuting from home to see how that goes. If the adjustment & time management are good, the student can look into dorming after the 1st semester/year.

I agree that it’s unrealistic to expect an untrained random young person who happens to be assigned as a room mate to “look out” for a kid with mental health issues. While you can ask the housing office and Disabilities Office of any U to help with accommodations, the doc has to specify what accommodations are needed & the school can figure out how it chooses to address these needs.

College, especially freshmen dorms, is a very stressful experience for pretty much everyone.

It’s good to contact each of the schools the student is admitted at to confer with them about how they reach out and accommodate kids with your student’s mental health issues and what they recommend. See which schools resonate with you & student. We were disappointed that one of the smaller schools I had fallen in love with (Santa Clara) was actually very UNWILLING to accommodate and allow prolonged absences, even those due to health reasons. This caused us to cross them off S’s list. He went to an even larger school, University of Southern CA, which promised to work with him & us so that he could & would succeed & that they had worked with other similar students in the past.

Several other very large campuses also indicated they would work with him & us if he choose to attend their Us, so there is wide variability. By the way, within large Us, there are often much smaller schools and departments, including engineering and various subspecialities within that as well. Within the smaller divisions of large Us, there can be significant nurturing and looking out, but one CAN easily fall thru cracks at many colleges & Us.

Gaiden · May 11, 2010, 12:07am

sylvan8798, since I asked the question I should not complain about the responses I get, but as a mentally ill student (I’m sure I have something), I feel somewhat bothered by your suggestion that people like myself should try a community college before moving on to a 4 year university.

I’ve yet to feel academically challenged in college and I see no reason why I should stay away from a rigorous curriculum. My mental illness does not impair my intellectual abilities and I think that my GPA, SAT scores, and current academic performance attest to that.

Then again, I do realize that there is little point in doing well in school if I lack basic interpersonal skills and, more importantly, control over my mental illness. It’s not like grades matter too much after college.

So, the point of my question has more to do with the social rather than the academic aspect of college. I’m thinking of mentally ill students whose mental illness is exacerbated due to being placed in the wrong social environment and end up nearly totally dysfunctional by the time they graduate from college.

Why is a community college a better choice for mentally ill students? Is it because the people at community colleges are more accustomed to dealing with “weirdos” like myself and might provide a better social environment?

bigtrees · May 11, 2010, 12:38am

Gaiden,

If you think you have a mental illness, you need to get diagnosed and seek treatment from real life people in your area.

ICargirl · May 11, 2010, 1:33am

Gaiden, I sympathize with your frustration, but I think the problem here is that “mental illness” is a huge category. Given the severity of some of the conditions included under that rubric, people are going to be as cautious as possible in giving advice.

Someone who has a mental illness that makes him a danger to himself or others (depression severe enough to lead to suicidal thoughts, paranoid schizophrenia, etc) should not be living alone in a campus environment because the risk is just too great; a “relapse” might be fatal. Someone whose mental illness, while less dangerous, makes him incapable of functioning in a college environment (i.e. a person who becomes so withdrawn that he starts flunking classes, skipping meals and spending entire days in bed) should also consider staying home until his condition stabilizes.

Fortunately, most mental illnesses are not that severe. I developed an anxiety disorder during college, and going home would have been the absolute worst thing I could have done. I certainly had some very bad days, but that would have been true anywhere, as the problem was not related to normal college stresses. Throwing myself into my work and spending time with friends was my respite during the difficult semester before I made the decision to go on medication, which thankfully worked for me. I had other friends suffering from depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and all of them were perfectly capable of attending school as well.

You indicated that your problem was a form of social anxiety. Without more information, there isn’t much advice I can give you - I would imagine that most forms of social anxiety fall under the second, less severe category, but I know some are more profound and may be accompanied by, say, serious depression. The two main questions you need to ask yourself are:

<ol>
<li>How will my mental illness affect my college experience? Is this effect negative enough to make me reconsider attending a traditional four year college?</li>
<li>How have I been coping with my disorder during high school? Will I be able to find those resources in college?</li>
</ol>

If you do decide on a four year college, consider things like availability of single rooms, size of the college, social scene of the college (is it a party school/Greek dominated), whether or not free counseling is offered on campus, and if so for how many sessions. If you sometimes have mental health emergencies like panic attacks, is there someone available 24 hours a day? If you are on medication or might be trying new medications while at college, is there a psychiatrist who can write a prescription for you? At most schools, I would imagine that some form of counseling is available, but it is worth checking out.

Good luck! If you feel comfortable sharing more information about your circumstances with us, you might get more helpful feedback.

sylvan8798 · May 11, 2010, 1:44am

No, dear, and try not to be offended by what people are suggesting here. First of all, don’t think that a Community College might not be challenging, necessarily. That depends on the school. I attended one myself for the first 2 years, because it was the only available option in my rural area, then transferred to a 4 year school to finish. The courses at the 2 year school were every bit as difficult as those at the U.

At a large University, there is no one to watch out for you but the other students, especially the first 2 years. The professors often have such large classes that they can barely recognize most of their students. The TA’s just want to get their own work done. It is easy for troubled students to fall through the cracks, literally and figuratively. One of my students recently showed up to my office for tutoring rather discombobulated. He said he had been up all night because he had to take his roommate to the hospital for self-inflicted injuries. You don’t want that to be you.

At a smaller school or at many community colleges, the classes are smaller, and the faculty and/or staff is more likely to notice if someone is troubled, and maybe provide some guidance so that they get appropriate help. There is more of a sense of community, so students don’t end up feeling like a number. At our U, I swear to God you could lay face down in a snowbank for a week and people wouldn’t even bother to step OVER you.

compmom · May 11, 2010, 7:19am

First of all, the term “mental illness” is kind of old-fashioned.

Secondly, there are treatments available that can help anyone with psychiatric issues live a fairly normal life.

Third, my daughter is at Harvard and has numerous, numerous friends with major psychiatric diagnoses and mental health issues. They seem to be functioning well academically, and in other ways as well, with maybe two exceptions.

Her roommate has major anxiety and barely interacts. My daughter is okay with this, but if she weren’t, there is plenty of recourse. If a student is uncomfortable with a roommate’s behavior, there are plenty of people to go to at any campus. The idea that a person with a psychiatric illness should not go to certain colleges to save the potential roommate from suffering is ludicrous. (My daughter is on insulin and could have a seizure in her room: should she stay home so as not to worry anyone?)

You absolutely cannot generalize in response to the original poster’s question, and, frankly, most of the responses here show some prejudice and lack of knowledge. Please do not be affected by the answers you are getting here.

There are several books out by individuals with psychiatric diagnoses, who have been extremely successful in life. Contemporaries include Kay Jamison and Elyn Saks. Both were extremely successful academically, far from home. The list of luminaries in every field of endeavor, throughout history, who had psychiatric illness, is extremely long.

Here is a site with a list of people with bipolar illness: this only covers that one diagnosis, so is more limited than the general group you are asking about:
[Famous</a> People with Bipolar Disorder](<a href=“Account Suspended”>Account Suspended)

The idea that people with such diagnoses should commute or stay close to home is ridiculous, and shows discriminatory attitudes. Should Winston Churchill have stayed home?

The answer about where to go for college is: it depends. The same answer I would give about any college student’s choices about where to to, and how far to be from home. Kids without “mental illness” are often not ready to go away either: I have read that 1/3 of teens are ready academically, 1/3 are ready emotionally, and 1/3 are ready in both ways.

Get a diagnosis and work with whatever school you choose. You can have a single if you need one. Establish supports, such as an MD and/or therapist beforehand.

Make your choices keeping that diagnosis in mind, but don’t let it define you or your choices. Do you like city or country? Do you like a large campus or small one? Do you want distribution requirements or more freedom? How is the department for your interests? What it the vibe of the campus? Do you want to go far away or be close to familiar places and people? Just like anyone else.

jym626 · May 11, 2010, 7:28am

Not sure that I agree that “mental illness” is old fashioned. It carries a stigma, which is a terrible reflection on our society, not on the terminology.

That said, if a student may have difficulty succeeding independentely, and if the challenges any any student faces transitioning to college are likely to be particularly challenging foa studnet, then that shudent might benefit from attendign a school close to home. Theycan live on campus, but being close to the support systems of family, doctors, etc is a good thing.

momofthreeboys · May 11, 2010, 8:03am

Clearly OP if you are asking the question you have concerns. Also as you noted the “capacity” to learn and execute are only one component of college and later the workforce. College is different because it is more self directed. The student is in class 15-20 hours a week on average and the majority of “work” is done outside the classroom. The daily routine of high school is quite different and returning home after high school is returning to a safe environment. There are many people that are not “social”, not “out-going”, have anxiety issues etc. who are successful, but there is no one here that can determine what that means for you and your particular situation or to what degree these issues impact you. My advice would be to discuss this with your family, with your medical support and have them help you, assuming they know you well, and find the best solution for you. The suggestion of community college was not to diminish your intellectual capability but more to “support” any social issues. It allows the student to immerse in a college setting, yet return to a familiar and safe social environment for a year or two before making the transition to the college campus.

Which universities are suitable for mentally ill students?

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