

How Colleges Flunk Mental Health (2014) - paralelogram
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/02/14/how-colleges-flunk-mental-health-245492.html

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therobot24
The article definitely builds a case of 'us vs them'. Even though the article
is a year old, it's definitely relevant given the MIT stress post
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9216238](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9216238)).

The most surprising thing I read from the piece was the manipulation of HIPAA
code to prevent any confidentiality during therapy:

    
    
      Wesley says she called his therapist without reading the essay. She decided
      it was evidence of psychotic thinking and told Wesley she was going to notify
      Sarah Lawrence. When Wesley, familiar with the ADA after his experience at 
      his previous college, asked her if she felt that he was a danger to himself 
      or other people, she said no. "That means you can't tell them," he says he 
      told her. According to Wesley, she said that it "wasn't his business" to 
      tell her what to do.
    

Telling students to 'forgive and forget' rape (even suggesting it was made
up):

    
    
      Instead, Epifano says, she told her it would be useless to press charges 
      against her rapist and advised her to "forgive and forget." She told 
      her there were no nearby support groups available and said Epifano was 
      too "behind" in her feeling process to join the one on campus. Instead, 
      she connected Epifano with a school counselor, who told Epifano she had 
      probably invented the rape to deal with a traumatic childhood.
    

Suggesting students just 'get over' their depression:

    
    
      "I broke down after reading the letter," Shireen recalls. "I already felt 
      so bad, and now I was getting in trouble for it."
    
      In that meeting, Shireen says, Santa Catalina's assistant director told her
      she could be suspended or expelled and that she had put the entire high-rise
      in danger. He allegedly said it was possible Shireen would become so 
      emotionally unstable that she might start running around the halls, threatening
      her floormates with a knife, and asked her what steps she would take to improve
      herself - "you have to be a social butterfly," he suggested - and told 
      Shireen she could only stay in school if she waived her confidentiality and 
      allowed her therapist to provide weekly reports to the administration.
    

And even applying pressure to 'get better' such that any small mistake will
result in harsh penalties:

    
    
      Shireen says. "Everyone kept telling me I was on their radar. They said
      'on their radar' over and over and over."
    

It's all pretty disgusting. Though given the clear legality of the situation:

    
    
      "Those codes of conduct are illegal," says Burnim, "no question about it."
    

And various successful cases listed in the article, why aren't there more
'ambulance chasers' for these types of problems?

