Depression, steadily increasing among college students, is currently the top reason students are visiting the Boston University Counseling Center, according to Center Director Leah Fygetakis.
“Most of the students who come in benefit from the short-term assistance,” Fygetakis said.
Eighty-four percent of student counseling center directors across the nation have seen an increase in students who arrive on campus with severe psychological illnesses, according to The National Survey of Counseling Center Directors website.
“There is not just an increase in depression, but counseling center directors are seeing an increase in severity of pre-existing issues, such as anxiety, violence in families and sexual assault,” according to the Sept. 2001 issue of the American Psychological Association’s “Monitor of Psychology” report. The report is based on an annual survey completed by the International Association of Counseling Services.
In the report, 97 percent of directors said they believed a vast majority of incoming freshmen would face problems not specific to Sept. 11 but general problems stirred by the climate of fear and vulnerability following the attacks.
While Student Health Services and the Wellness Center can provide short-term aid, the Danielsen Institute, a mental health clinic at BU, offers long-term treatment.
“Well over half of the students who come in [to the Danielsen Institute] have some form of depression or anxiety, usually due to a family history or an unresolved history of abuse, whether physical, sexual or emotional,” said Dean Hammer, a clinical psychologist fellow at the Danielsen Institute.
Depression is marked by sad moods, troubled eating, and/or difficulty sleeping. Other symptoms include loss of concentration or motivation, lower sex drive, inability to enjoy activities that were once found enjoyable and suicidal thoughts, according to Hammer.
“I know people that I think could be depressed, but haven’t told me or anyone that they are,” said College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Angela Conway. “I think they think they have bigger things to worry about.”
According to the Fygetakis, there are two types of depressed people.
“There are the people who don’t want to make a big deal or take up the time of a counselor, and there are the people who are in too much despair and think they can’t be helped,” Fygetakis said. “I want people to know we are here for both ends.”
“I knew one person who was depressed,” said CAS sophomore Karina Matyukhina. “She sought help by going to the health center a few times.”
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