The objective of this researcher was to conduct a thorough review on the current literature as it pertains to Mental Health concerns within the college setting. Essentially, this paper will attempt to analyze several aspects of mental illness problems on college campuses today such as; warning signs, impact on campuses, and providing additional help or resources. Mental Health, is no longer reduced to the psychiatric hospitals and institutions, which over the years have been responsible for providing care for such individuals. Therefore, some of our most gifted minds are attending various institutions across the country, and possibly have or haven’t been diagnosis with some sort of a mental illness. However, those concerns …show more content…
Stewart Paton, a psychiatrists at the Princeton University developed the first mental health services for students with personality development problems. Dr. Paton came up with the concept, “in response to an observation that many well-qualified Princeton students were leaving school without completing their courses of study because of emotional and personality issues” (Kraft. 2011. p. 478). Therefore, some institutions were intrigued by Dr. Paton’s program at Princeton, which prompted other institutions to develop their own services, mostly spearhead by campus psychiatrists. Unfortunately, several years would pass before other, less than prominent institutions, would also pursue and establish their own mental health and counseling services. However, many institutions could not provide such services due to a lack of trained professional in the field. Therefore, not until 1920 a psychiatrists by the name of Dr. Frankwood Williams, outlined the importance of establishing mental health programs to the American College Health Association. Dr. Williams emphasized the value and importance of proper “mental hygiene” and categorized it into four reasons mental health services should be established: “the conservation of the student body, so that intellectually capable students may not be forced unnecessarily to withdraw, but may be retained; the forestalling of failure in the form of nervous and mental diseases, immediate or remote; the minimizing of …show more content…
According, to the National Survey of Counseling Centers Directors in 2010, “91% of directors report that the recent trend toward greater number of students with severe psychological problems continues to be true on their campuses. In addition, over the past five years, the following percentage of directors have noted increases in the following problems; 70.6% crises issues requiring immediate response, 68.0% psychiatric medication issues, 60% learning disabilities, 45.7% alcohol abuse, 45.1% illicit drug use, 39.4% self-injury issues (cutting to relieve anxiety), 25.2% on campuses sexual assault, 24.3% eating disorder, and 23.1% problems related to earlier sexual abuse” (Gallahgher, P. R. 2010