Understanding mental illness in colleges

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - If your roommate starts acting strangely or never quite fits in, trying to avoid your dorm room won’t help.

The investigation into the mental state of Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui may stigmatize the mentally ill, experts say. However, while violence and shootings are rare on campus, mental illness is surprisingly common.

“It is a topic that doesn’t get discussed enough, particularly on a college campus,” said Patricia Lanoue, interdisciplinary studies director at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. “Substance abuse, anxiety, depression, mood disorders and other dimensions of mental illness have been a growing problem on college campuses nationwide.”

More than one in three students reported feeling so depressed “it was difficult to function,” and suicide is the third-leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24, according to the 2006 National Student Health Survey.

College can present a risky environment for students with mental illness or a predisposition toward mental illness, said Carlo DiClemente, professor of psychology at UMBC. “There’s increasing challenges to our sense of identity and belonging, combined with experimentation with alcohol and drugs.”

While the definitive link between alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness is still subject to debate, DiClemente said, “there’s a lot of interaction between alcohol and substance abuse and emotional or psychological problems, and there’s a lot of ways they interact.”

Most people suffering mental illness do not cause harm, said J. Lavelle Ingram, director of UMBC’s counseling services.

“When we talk about mental illness, I want to be clear that violence is not the major feature,” Ingram said. “People with psychiatric disabilities are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crime.”

khille@baltimoreexaminer.com