American University Students Struggle With Mental Health

Many American university students struggle with mental health. Colleges and universities have a unique responsibility to care for the young adults living on campus. Throughout the last decade, universities have changed their mindset to limit their legal liability in almost every instance, often removing agency from students and instilling a lack of trust. In prioritizing trust among students, professors, and university administration, the stigma that surrounds mental health can dissipate, which allows students to take charge of their health without worrying about their academic standing. Because the stakes for treating mentally-ill students continue to increase, university choice to value liability management over student health†¦show more content†¦When colleges discipline students for their mental health status, trust dissolves and students are less likely to seek help early, contributing to a cycle that propagates stigma. Although the trust-oriented approach to mental he alth services benefits individual students, critics cite national traumas, such as the Virginia Tech shooting, as reason enough for universities to harbor disciplinary attitudes toward mental health issues. While the image of a mentally-ill student engaging in a shooting spree on a college campus is all too easy to conjure, the vast majority of mentally ill students will not engage in violence during their lifetimes, according to Lewis Bossing, a senior attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health – a practice that has gained notoriety for handling high-profile Ivy League mental health cases (Kingkade). Those that engage in violence and suffer from mental illness are a microscopic portion of the 43.8 million American adults living with mental illness (Mental Illness Numbers). Additionally, An American Psychological Association Panel sustained that the mentally ill â€Å"should not be stereotyped as dangerous† (Baker). 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