March 10, 2006
Whoa
It's been interesting watching the wave of depression awareness hitting US colleges the past few months. It's good that the matter is being discussed. But, as I suspected, it's leading to some wild claims such as this one from the UW-Madison college paper, in which a college counselor asserts that 80 percent of college students experience depression. Maybe during finals week, but seriously that claim isn't even supported by any research I have seen, so maybe the young reporter at the campus paper should've checked into the claim. I'll buy 10 percent, I'll buy 20 percent. Hell, maybe even 30 percent. But 80 percent? I'm giving that counselor an F and mandatory drug testing.
Posted by Philip Dawdy at March 10, 2006 12:14 AM
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I think they're using depression VERY broadly in that case - depressed over an SO dumping you, getting a bad grade, cyclothymia, etc. I don't think we're talking about on-going depression which requires treatment. Not disputing your assessment, merely suggesting that perhaps the counselor included all that in the number.
I read in Newsweek several months ago that the more intensive the school, the higher the suicide rate. MIT for instance supposedly had the highest suicide rate. But I don't know... While it's very possible that high academic schools produce the most stress...does stress directly relate to depression and suicide ideation?
