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Issue 6 | February 27, 2013 | Whitman news since 1896
Have you ever taken medication for a mental health issue?
57.5
percent of Whitman students report having experienced a panic attack Data for Whitman students based on a Pioneer survey of 272 individuals
47.8
percent report having experienced insomnia
by SAM CHAPMAN Staff Reporter
A
mental disorder can be almost as difficult to spot as it is to live with. Many students who suffer from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions are doing so in silence, at Whitman and at schools across the country. These conditions can arise from a multitude of causes—some biological, some from experience, some compounded from other disorders—but all have one thing in common: When people realize they are struggling, their first instinct is to fight the battle alone. The 2009 National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, collected by the University of Pittsburgh, recorded that 60 percent of college students have at least once felt too depressed or anxious to function. According to a recent Pioneer survey of 272 students, over one in four Whitman students has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD or a
27%
Staff Reporter
W
hitman’s performance of William Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest,” set to run from Feb. 27 through March 3 at Harper Joy Theatre, is one of high drama, suspense and action. The large cast of characters is able to synthesize all of these aspects, but the play would not be complete without the crew behind the scenes. “The Tempest” tells the tale of Prospero and the controlled chaos he creates on his island when he seeks vengeance upon his brother. With elements of romance, humor and fantasy, the play’s mood and direction often change swiftly. The general feel the audience can get from a scene is not only a product of the acting, but the lighting as well. Two members of the light crew are firstyears Quinn Lincoln and Jacob O’Connor. Both feel that lighting is an integral part of the show. “Lighting is great for highlighting certain pieces within the play that are important,” said O’Connor. This is certainly the case in “The Tempest,” when eerie blinking lights often serve to accentuate scenes involving Prospero’s use of magic. The lighting also gives the play a sense of place. Since the play is set on an island, blue and green lighting is often used to give the stage the feel of a beach or forest. see TEMPEST, page 4
diagnosable mental illness according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness
Suffering in silence Stigma surrounds mental health issues on campus panic disorder in their lives, and as many as two out of three believe that they have suffered from one of these but not sought medical attention. Out of 272 respondents, 39 percent report having had a panic attack, 22 percent have engaged in self-harm and 18 percent have suffered from an eating disorder. While these percentages may not be representative of the student body as a whole, the fact remains that mental health is a concern for a significant number of Whitman students. A susceptible population Junior Tara Mah has suffered from PTSD, bipolar disorder and bulimia since before arriving at Whitman. She said starting college made her more susceptible to mental health issues because the unfamiliarity of her surroundings and the pervasive silence about mental problems caused her to regress from the therapy she received in high school. “Individual therapy was helpful for a long time, but it stopped being helpful in college when I was sep-
arated from my support network,” said Mah. “When I got to college it felt like many people were completely silent. So few people were willing to even acknowledge their struggles unless I opened up first.” Mah continued her behaviors, including self-harm, in secrecy. She said that her downward spiral was exacerbated because she berated herself for not being able to defeat her disorders on her own. “You suddenly are overcome with these feelings that you can’t do it and are not good enough,” she said. “You tell yourself you are a failure, you can’t do anything, you’re weak. Those thoughts are not only what cause the depression, they are what keep you there.” Another leading cause of depression among college students is stress. The typical student lives under several simultaneous pressures: to keep up with an academic workload, to remain social and to prepare for his or her future. Of all these, none is so difficult as the pressure to
Delve into ‘The Tempest’ by QUIN NELSON
of people between the ages of 18 and 24 have a
make all of the other tasks look easy. “I was one of those overachievers in high school. I was a perfectionist. I worked myself too hard, and the stress didn’t go away when I expected it to,” said first-year Arden Robinette, who has received counseling for stress-induced depression. The stress eventually led to a breakdown. “It was my junior year of high school. I thought I’d get through it and the stress would go away, but weeks before my senior year started, I freaked out and told my mother I couldn’t go back,” she said. In other cases, students carry trauma with them from home and suffer as a result. Sophomore Emma Nye has been diagnosed with PTSD from a childhood trauma, and found the symptoms more difficult to bear when around people who weren’t familiar with her history. “I’m very open about it, but there’s a difference between being open and being able to accurately convey what it’s like. Part of being depressed was feeling like nobody understood. I think it’s not that nobody actually understood, but I didn’t expect anyone to understand. My friends here are super sympathetic, but when you’ve only known people a year, it’s harder to explain,” she said. Robinette, who describes herself as a private person, said that a different problem kept her from opening up to others. She believes that there is stigma surrounding those with mental health issues, especially those who seek counseling. “It’s not something that’s socially accepted. It’s like if you go to counseling, you’re admitting you’re crazy. It’s sad because it could really help people, but it’s ingrained in our collective mentality.” According to statistics from the Welty Counseling Center, 93 percent of college counseling center directors said in 2009 that students have been coming to them in greater numbers with more severe problems. Dr. Tracee Anderson, who works at the center, said that an increase in their number of clients reflects this trend. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and every year we have had an increase in the demand for services,” said Anderson. “For example, last year, we saw 27.5 percent of the student body; in 2006, five or six years before, we saw 22 percent. This year, without a doubt, we’re seeing more than 27.5 percent.” Silence Almost all of the students with mental health conditions who responded to the survey described having hidden feelings from everyone or nearly everyone in their lives. While some said that trusted individuals are privy to these experiences, others said that they have gone through things about which nobody knows. Even when people are able to be candid about their feelings, the struggle may not end. Although friends who hear somebody’s story are usually supportive, several misconceptions have become part of the common view of mental illness, even among Whitman students. Chief among these is the response that their issues are all in their head and that they should “buck up.” Junior Matt Alder* has received this answer several times after opening up about his depression. He has had intermittent symptoms for around five years, and claims he has been depressed continually since arriving at college. “I feel like, in the instances where I have opened up, people just have the same things to say in different ways. ‘Stop being depressed. Just act happy. Get over it.’ It drives me insane. I can’t act happy because I’m depressed,” he said. Simply reverting to a sci-
% are 14.9 currently
7.2
have in the past
77.9 have not Of those who have taken medication,
67.1% found it effective entific explanation for depression also bothers him. “Another thing I hear a lot is that depression is simply a chemical imbalance in the brain. This one comes from counselors. I understand that they’re correct, but it’s not like the sudden realization that chemicals are screwing me over makes me feel any better.” Alder has tried counseling and medication but has never been able to continue with either for very long. In his sophomore year, he began to contemplate suicide. He said that his claims that he thinks of killing himself have also not always been taken seriously. “I think most people assume that I’m only using the word ‘suicide’ for attention. I’m not,” he said. “I’ve created so many plans and evaluated each and every single one for its possible lethality that I’ve developed a theoretical hierarchy of which method would be the best. I’ve evaluated the cost of some plans as well as the difficulty in executing others.” Mah also said that she has heard things from other people that parallel the negative lines of reasoning she has said to herself in her darkest moments. A transfer student to Whitman, she spent a year at the University of North Carolina, where she opened up to friends about her history of selfharm. One day, a peer took her aside. “She said, ‘I’m sorry, I want to help, but I can’t be around you because you’re so negative. You couldn’t possibly have tried everything. You need to work harder.’ That’s a really common message. I’ve had people claim I was just doing it for attention or that I should just choose to be happy. Some people honestly think that by being sad, you are choosing it, and that makes you weak,” said Mah. Sara Williams* finds it almost impossible to share her experiences with loved ones because she is afraid they will treat her differently once they know. Williams deals with both chronic germophobia and PTSD from an abusive relationship. She said that people who have not gone through trauma or lived with phobias can never truly understand the sensation of something interfering with living your life the way you want to. “I’ve grown up in a society that says it’s not okay to have these things or be affected by them,” she said. “Sure, I get a little more leeway with the trauma because you’re supposed to respect that, but basically, it’s almost like if I talk about them, I’m afraid that the person I’m talking to will treat me as subhuman. They’ll treat me in a way that they think they’re supposed to treat me, rather than as the person I am and they’ve known me to be.” Some students choose to remain silent for reasons other than a fear they will be misinterpreted. Senior Walter Leitz, who suffered from anxiety and depression in elementary and middle school, has not required counseling or medication since eighth grade. He said he doesn’t talk much about it because he very rarely has days in which he is unable to function. “My depression ties in with sleep deprivation, so I’m careful to get enough sleep,” said Leitz. “There are occasions where I don’t feel like doing anything because I feel really down and apathetic, but I rarely feel like it’s so bad that it starts screwing up my work habits.” The students on the survey who said they elected not to seek counseling gave a variety of reasons. Of these, the most common were a belief that it wouldn’t be helpful or that their condition was not serious enough to merit counseling, as well as a fear of social judgment.
see MENTAL HEALTH, page 2