This article hit home for me. While I was a Resident Assistant for two years I had to deal with cases of suicidal ideation and one instance where it was attempted. It was hard on me as an RA, but it was even harder trying to help students in my hall with their stress and depression. We were simply told to direct them to counseling or to tell a supervisor if the case was rather escalated. It was hard to put on a business face for these situations.
But I can only imagine how different it would be as a teacher or a professor who only gets to see the students in an academic setting. I feel that this article discussed an important topic, especially in regards to parts being overbearing to their children. Lots of my residents were sometimes avoiding their parents, and the department or the campus police would get calls from concerned parents to check on their children. Almost always, the case was that the students just didn’t feel like talking to their parents. It was hard to satisfy both the student and the parents. This article is important because it also discusses high functioning depression. Which is to say depression that isn’t as obvious to others simply because that person is doing so well. This makes it hard to identify some warning signs of depression.
I’ll say this; I hope that counseling services become more aware and prepared for this phenomena of stressed out, overachieving, depressed students. I also hope that teachers and professors become more aware as well. Depression is hard to face alone. It’s even harder to face when you think no one is going to help you and that you are alone.