Whether they suffer in silence through a rocky relationship, are overwhelmed by the pressures of demanding classes or struggle to make financial ends meet, college students are uniquely susceptible to depression and, in extreme cases, suicide, according to a survey that looked into the emotional and mental well-being of nearly 30,000 university students across the country. And if a recent slew of suicides at Cornell University is any indication, the onset of depression at places of higher education is alive and breathing.
Six students have taken their own lives this year at the Ivy League school, which incited the university to address the matter as a “public health crisis.” The president of the school encouraged students to seek help if they need it and to watch out for others who are suffering. But by the time they enroll in the school, Cornell students have already undergone psychological evaluation and are surrounded by people who are trained and employed to pick up on signs of depression. And still, some have fallen through the cracks.
Matters of depression and suicide cannot be approached as something cut and dry, black and white or simply clinical. A Boston University effort to train students to seek out signs of depression in classmates is laudable and is certainly better than ignoring the problem or trying to hide it from prospective students, but helping someone out of the hole into which he or she has dug himself or herself requires something beyond guest lecturers and pages of statistics. Ultimately, as people beyond our labels as students or leaders, we must rely on an organic sense of humanism to understand and relate to our peers who are in greater peril than we. Reactionary measures taken against something as deep-seated as suicidal thoughts can still be futile, though, and some people cannot be convinced that staying alive is something worth fighting for.
So when we see our friends suffer under the weight of overwhelming anxiety, we, as students and human beings, must also remember to take care of ourselves, even if that means letting go of the idea that graduating college is an unwavering condition of living. If a student here is willing to help another who seems to be depressed, he or she should do that, but must also remember that the eyes of the figure planted in the desk to the left might not see things so clearly. Avoiding the horror of self-inflicted death means making sure we, ourselves, are OK before we extend our best efforts toward others, as the most obvious candidate for suicide is not the only candidate; even the widest smile might hide the most painful hurt.
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