Recognizing Depression
Going to college is a new chapter in a student’s young life. They will face greater academic demands, financial responsibilities, exposure to new people, and being on their own in a new environment. Someone that already has difficulty dealing with the daily stresses of life may become overwhelmed with new challenges and become depressed. People who have problems with depression have both mental and physical symptoms (Frye, 1942). Some mental symptoms that a person may carry include guilt, low self-esteem, and feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy (NMHA, 2001). The physical symptoms include over eating as well as not eating enough food. Someone may also have problems with sleeping and may find it difficult to become interested in daily activities. Those with depression may also have little energy throughout the course of a day.
College students have to deal with minor to serious problems every day of their
lives. Two common problems that students face are deadlines for research papers and
studying for exams. Both of these problems can create serious stress for a student,
especially if that particular student is not capable of handling that pressure. If a
particular person is mentally strong then they will be able to handle the situation
accordingly (Anderson, 1993). However, if a student is having serious problems and
cannot control the situation that surrounds them, many different solutions pop into their heads. One solution that one in 10 U.S. college students think of is suicide (Powledge, 2000). According to the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey, 463 students out of 4,609 strongly considered taking their own lives. Unfortunately, young adults from the ages of 15...
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...iligenstein, E. (1996). Depression and academic impairment in college students. Journal of American College Health, 2(45), p. 59. Retrieved November 1, 2001 from Masterfile/EBSCO database.
Hall, G. College Students and Depression. Retrieved December 1, 2001, from http://campusblues.com/stud_depress.html
Kale, Kelly (2001). Lost on the campus. Time, 2(151), p.51. Retrieved November 1, 2001 from Masterfile/EBSCO database.
O’Connor, E.M. (2001, September). Student mental health: Secondary education no more. Retrieved November 1, 2001, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/Sep01/stumental.html
Powledge, T.M. (2000, April). Study: 10% of College Students Consider Suicide. Retrieved September 30, 2001, from http://www.apbonline.com.safetycenter/campus/2000/04/07/collegesuicide0407.html
This reference discusses how suicide is linked with depression.
[3, 4] However, regardless the availability and accessibility of resources, many students feel discouraged towards accessing these services due to fear of adverse consequences, which may eventually have a huge negative impact on their future. [1, 5] Aside from the issue of availability and accessibility of services, another challenge is the lack of community awareness that adds to the threat against the mental health status of many students. [6] To add to the concern, most of the states in USA have scored poorly in the mental health report i.e. out of all 51 states, a total of 45 states scored either a C, D or F, but none scored an A.
Stress Induced Suicide Julie Scelfo’s “Suicide on Campus and the Pressure of Perfection” first appeared in The New York Times magazine on July 27, 2015. Scelfo discusses the pressure that family, society, and the individual places on themselves to be perfect. This stress ultimately results in college- age students taking their own lives. “Nationally, the suicide rate among 15- to 24-year-olds has increased modestly but steadily since 2007: from 9.6 deaths per 100,000 to 11.1 in 2013.” Scelfo uses an anecdote, statistics, and expert’s observations to successfully portray her stance on this issue.
Medea is a tragedy written by acclaimed Greek playwright Euripides.fortunately, had the opportunity to view last night's performance. Euripides cleverly uncovers the reality of Ancient Greek society, shining a light on the treatment of women and the emotions and thoughts that provoked during their time in society. As they were voiceless, Euripides acted as a voice. The scene is set during a male- dominated society, Medea the protagonist challenges the views and chooses to ignore the normality of civilisation. Treated as an outsider her passion for revenge conquers the motherly instincts she possesses, provoking a deep hatred and sparking revenge towards her once loved family.
Depression was once believed to affect mainly adults for various reasons. It was hardly ever seen in minors or college students. Today depression is more common in younger populations mainly college students. There are many things that can trigger depression in college students, such as the environment, anxiety, and the fear of failure. All these things can contribute to depression in college students and sometimes cannot be seen. Many college students will never seek help, and many wont ever admit that they struggle with it.
In the article “Do Negative Cognitive Styles Confer Vulnerability to Depression?” by Lauren B. Alloy, Lyn Y. Abramson, and Erika L. Francis, they explain how negative cognitive styles confer vulnerability to depression when people confront negative life experiences. Depression is a serious psychological health disorder, with significant penalties in terms of human distress, lost productivity, and even fatalities. Up to date estimates suggest that 16% of the population will experience an event of depression at some time in their lives. Furthermore, people who experience a major depressive event are at increased risk for future episodes, with each episode significantly increasing risk for following episodes. Given this public health significance, significant research interest has been devoted to understanding essential causes of depression.
Starting college can be a stressful time for any adolescent. For students suffering from depression it can be a traumatic experience. Worlds feel turned upside down. Even for those who manage to “cope,” pressures can cause these students to feel overwhelmed.
There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it.
A mother finds her 17 year old teenage son hanging from the rafters of their basement. To hear of this occurrence is not rare in society today. Every 90 minutes a teenager in this country commits suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. The National suicide rate has increased 78% between 1952 and 1992. The rate for 15-19 year olds rose from two per 100,000 to 12.9, more than 600 percent. (Special report, Killing the Pain, Rae Coulli)
Euripides shows his views on female power through Medea. As a writer of the marginalized in society, Medea is the prime example of minorities of the age. She is a single mother, with 2 illegitimate children, in a foreign place. Despite all these disadvantages, Medea is the cleverest character in the story. Medea is a warning to the consequences that follow when society underestimates the
In the story of Medea, the author, Euripides, addresses the topics of foreignism and female roles in the ancient Greek society. In the play, Medea, a foreign born woman, marries Jason, a Greek man, and moves to Greece to be with him after leaving her homeland with death and devastation. Then, when their marriage fails, Medea lashes out against Jason, causing her own exile and murdering her children, to which she has no love connection, and Jason’s new wife in the process. The main character, Medea, confirms many of the alleged Greek prejudices against foreigners and creates some prejudices of her own in return. Medea’s foreign roots and misconceptions, as well as her familial and societal atrocities,
Karl Marx’s theories about class struggle, communism, and social justice can be known as Marxism. Marxism is summed up in the Encarta Reference Library as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western societies.” In contrast the Encarta Reference Library defines capitalism as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.” Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.
As it has been proven, students and depression across campuses are becoming more common daily, and it must be taken as a serious matter. There are many causes that result in depression, such as personal stress and academic stress. This severely influences a student’s life and can bring about extreme negative outcomes like suicide or eating disorders. Luckily, there are cures for this major issue. Counseling centers and mentors in the classroom and in residence halls can impact a student’s overall well-being and attitude towards his or her daily life. Depression, in conclusion, is an extremely dangerous mental illness that, if not cured with the correct treatments, could become detrimental to students across the globe.
Lindsey, Billie. 2009. "THE PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF DEPRESSION AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS." College Student Journal 43 (4): 999-1014.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, and the sixth leading cause for 5 to 14 year olds. Suicide accounts for twelve percent of the mortality in the adolescent and young adult group. Young males are more common than young woman suicides. These are only children who followed through with the suicide. For every successful suicide there are fifty to one hundred adolescent suicide attempts. In other words, more than five percent of all teenagers tried to commit suicide, and the number is still rising. It is scary to think that four percent of high school students have made a suicide attempt within the previous twelve months. In a small safe town like Avon, in the Avon High School where you and I practically live, you can see the faces of 22 students that have tried to commit suicide. That is enough to fill a classroom.
Suicide has become a critical, national problem and the extent of this is mind-boggling. Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among college students. According to Webters dictionary “suicide is the act killing oneself on purpose”. It derived from the Latin sui, meaning “self”, and caedere, which means “to kill”. But this is just a definition, because an actual suicide holds different meanings to people such as tragic, shocking, a relief, a cry for help, a shame, heroic, the right choice, punishment, revenge, protest, anger, a mistake, desperate, hurtful and many more. But why do people, like college students who have their entire future ahead of them, simply give up hope and turn their heads away from life and commit suicide. There are several causes of suicide, recent incidents of suicide on college campuses, warning signs from a suicidal. I blame the Constitution and the United States law for not taking any hard initiative on the subject of suicide. I also impose the choice of the media, which is reflecting and portraying suicide towards a wrong direction. However most important questions remain: can the growing epidemic of suicide be solved, what are communities doing about it and what can they do to help?