Have you talked to your roommate lately?
I mean actually talked, conversed, discussed life - not the routine morning or evening chitchat. Amid the mid-October bustle, it's easy to fly through those shallow conversations.
Did you ask how he's doing? Or if this week has been better for him than last?
Maybe you'll hear that things are great, or maybe things haven't been going so well lately. It happens to us all. Maybe, though, you tried to have a conversation and got shrugged off. Sometimes there's more to the "oh, you know."
You might not hear it directly, but you'll pick up on it. Your friend hasn't been sleeping well and doesn't really feel like going out as much as he used to. She's having trouble with her class work and seems to be in a constant argument with her parents and boyfriend.
Everyone hits a rough spot or gets in a slump every now or then. For some, the problems may persist - feelings of sadness and hopelessness, fatigue, and restlessness. When these symptoms last for weeks and months, it may not just be a passing feeling - it could be clinical depression. That's when they should seek help.
You've seen the unassuming office doors in Gasson, Fulton, and Campion; the little placard reads Univ. Counseling Services. UCS, a department within the division of Student Affairs, is the mental health facility on campus. Each year, more than 1,200 students consult counselors and doctors for a number of reasons, including on behalf of a friend with whom they are concerned, according to the facility's Web site.
People don't really talk about depression. And in the silence that surrounds the disease, a certain stigma has developed - or at least certain misconceptions. Depression is not "something that strong people can "snap out of by thinking positively," the nonprofit group Mental Health America explains on its Web site. It's something that affects 10 percent of Americans, college students included. In the spring of 2006, the American College Health Association surveyed nearly 95,000 students, almost half of whom reported feeling so depressed at least once they had trouble functioning.
It's comforting not only to express your feelings, but to know that others also share your feelings, which may be an explanation for the wild popularity of retreats on campus.
At an Agape Latte event on Oct. 2, the Rev. James Fleming, S.J., revealed that 57 percent of students attend at least one retreat during their four years here. Retreats offer truly great opportunities to put aside the busy lives we lead and to stop and reflect. They encourage conversation. Retreat-goers establish strong bonds with one another by sharing intimate details of themselves, their accomplishments, and their struggles. These are the emotions that tend to build up over time and aren't expressed regularly. We shouldn't be saving our anxieties and fears so that we can share and bond over them on a weekend getaway.
The University would certainly benefit from an open dialogue. Other universities have student groups that bring about awareness of mental health issues on campus. One such organization is Active Minds, a program founded in 2001 (originally called "Open Minds") by Alison Malmon, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania. Malmon's brother, a college student who had a history of depression and psychosis, had committed suicide a year earlier. After its success at Penn, the program's second chapter was founded at Georgetown University. Two years later it established its headquarters as a non-profit in Washington, D.C. Today it boasts 70 chapters on college campuses across the country.
Boston College students put a high premium on physical health. We were, after all, named the No. 3 fittest college in the nation by Men's Fitness last year. We're competitive, on the field and in the classroom. Hard workers in Bapst sit proudly next to their stacks of books, wearing them like badges of courage.
Therefore, we shouldn't let our anxieties pile up. Instead, extend that health awareness to the mind. Let the conversations begin.
Katherine Cannella is a Heights
staff columnist. She welcomes comments at kcannella@bcheights.com.
2008 Woodie Awards
