Privacy vs. Safety: When College Students Have Mental Health Problems

[David Baxter PhD]

Privacy vs. Safety: When College Students Have Mental Health Problems
by Stefanie Ilgenfritz
December 2, 2008

A new study out today on the mental health of young adults paints a disturbing picture: One in five college-age adults has a personality disorder that disrupts their daily lives.

But fewer than 25% of these young adults with mental-health problems actually seek treatment. The study, of more than 5,000 young people age 19-25, brings up a host of issues for parents who have young-adult children who are away from home, often for the first time.

If a child displays symptoms of mental illness, it?s natural for parents to want to dive in and get their child help. But with college students, it?s far from simple. As Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Bernstein has explained, there is an ongoing debate over how much access and influence parents should have when it comes to their college-age children ? who are technically adults.

You can?t force a young adult to get treatment, and colleges often decline to reach out to parents or share information about students? behavior, citing the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or Ferpa, which protect students? health and academic records.

Parents who are worried about a child away at college can ask the student to sign a Ferpa waiver allowing the school to share information with them. A growing number of colleges offer such waivers ? check your student?s packet of admission information, or call the dean?s office to find out more. And if the school doesn?t offer a pre-formatted waiver, parents can ask their child to write a ?letter of consent? to be included in the academic file.

Certainly many school officials, students and families feel that parents shouldn?t intrude, and that college is a time to foster self-reliance. Others believe that college-age students are adults in name only and still need Mom?s and Dad?s guidance ? especially if the child is dealing with mental-health issues.

Readers, do you think that parents should take a hands-off approach with college-age young adults, even if it means allowing them to stumble? If you feel parents should have oversight of their college-age kids, would you ask your child to sign a privacy waiver? Does it make a difference if you?re the one footing the bill for school?

 

[pip]

This reply is purely opinion, but I know for a fact that I value my privacy like nothing else.

I'm from Toronto, but went to school in a small town. Toronto's a big city and it absorbs some of the weirdness of being a teenager. When we moved, I was the one wearing awesomely cool punk clothes with Anti-fascist stickers and pins walking into a group of neo-nazis and white-bread baptist folk of the kind you only hear about in movies. They really do exist people. It was terrifying. Naturally, I didn't fit in. This must mean I have a mental illness! I was removed from classes and only allowed to return if I visited a therapist. My parents were called. Suddenly, I'm a year or two behind in school.

I think we need to think of the repercussions of outing someone with a mental illness like that. I know from my experience, it felt like an act of violence, like all of a sudden, I wasn't in control any more, I had plans to graduate early, and now I'm royally screwed, because someone wanted to "help" me. (well, not anymore, but at the time). It was my problem to work through, and I wanted to work through it without a hundred sets of eyes on me evaluating my progress and over analyzing my every move. OH NO SHE SCRATCHED HER NOSE. SHE MUST BE INSECURE!

I think, rather than scrap privacy laws and start baby-ing people and treating young adults as people incapable of reason and thought, schools could raise awareness of mental health issues, or make therapy more readily available. If you let people see that maybe their "typical college stress levels" aren't really that typical, and that there IS someone out there to help them, then they'll come on their own, and you leave control in their hands.

At the end of the day, life on earth is hard, and if we never learn how to take care of ourselves, and how to ask for help when we need it, then we're not going to do so good in the real world.

But I could be full of poop.

 

[cinderella]

But fewer than 25% of these young adults with mental-health problems actually seek treatment.

Speaking as a college student with a mental-health problem, I can sympathize. For one, it is so hard to be taken seriously (oh, don't worry dear, everyone is anxious their first year) and also there aren't enough resources to accommodate everyone. Even if you have a prior diagnosis and a history of anxiety, there is so much paperwork and so many different professionals you have to see before you can actually get to see a therapist.

I think, rather than scrap privacy laws and start baby-ing people and treating young adults as people incapable of reason and thought, schools could raise awareness of mental health issues, or make therapy more readily available. If you let people see that maybe their "typical college stress levels" aren't really that typical, and that there IS someone out there to help them, then they'll come on their own, and you leave control in their hands.

I agree. On one hand, there is the issue that many young people don't (want to) acknowledge they have a mental health issue. On the other hand, those who willingly seek treatment are not generally so well received. Raising awareness is key in this issue.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Raising awareness is key in this issue.

:agree: Totally.

 

[cinderella]

It seems to be epidemic--people really ought to be better informed about it, because it touches everyone, whether or not you are the one suffering from the mental illness.

 

[ntuc]

In my opinion, it's simply a strict protocol for the college personnel to strictly maintain the personal privacy of those students troubled with such a problem. Otherwise, for those students with chronic cases, other special arrangements that doesn't necessarily involve the disclosure of their health conditions, especially to the unauthorized people, can be made for them for the sake of their healthcare and personal well-being.

 

[cinderella]

I understand the importance of student privacy, but at the same time, I think there really should be a lot more awareness.