The Tulane community has suffered several tragedies during the Fall 2014 semester, highlighting the need for awareness and advocacy for mental health issues on campus. Tulane isn’t alone in this mental health crisis. Colleges across the country struggle to meet the needs of their students and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. In order for us to come together as a community, we must talk about the unique mental health challenges college students face. Students must feel empowered to discuss mental health issues, while supporting and encouraging their peers to seek help when they need it.

See my article in The Hullabaloo to learn more about college mental health.

More Resources for College Mental Health:

Active Minds

The Jed Foundation

ULifeLine.org

National Institute of Mental Health

Hazing is a practice often talked about on college campuses, particularly when students are considering which organizations to join. Despite strict rules banning this behavior, hazing still occurs regularly and is often considered a part of campus culture. The National Study of Student Hazing, including responses from 11,000 undergraduate students at 53 colleges and universities, found that more than half of college students involved in campus organizations experience hazing.

Why does this tradition still persist, despite strict rules against it? What are the hidden psychological dangers of hazing? What can college campuses do about it? Check out my latest article in The Hullabaloo here!

Hazing Resources:

StopHazing.org

HazingPrevention.org

The infamous elevator video of Ray Rice punching his current wife unconscious exploded in this month. Though many are aware that domestic violence exists, the harsh realities of this unpleasant topic are often avoided until some occurrence gains national attention, which forces us to have a conversation about reality. Realizing that someone you know may be a victim of domestic or dating violence or even be a perpetrator can be difficult, particularly in a young and vibrant campus community such as Tulane. In reality, however, abuse occurs in one in five college dating relationships.

Sound surprising? Click here to see my latest article in The Hullabaloo to learn more!

Additional Resources:

Love is Respect

Red Flag Campaign

College students are particularly vulnerable to sexual assaults, with 19 percent of college women having experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college. Often called the “silent epidemic” on college campuses, sexual assaults are the most underreported crime, with 95 percent of attacks being unreported. These type of assaults take serious emotional tolls, with rape survivors being 13 times more likely to attempt suicide than people who have not been victimized. To learn more about the emotional tolls of sexual assaults and resources Tulane offers for survivors, check out my latest article in The Tulane Hullabaloo.

Twenty-five percent of college students suffer from an eating disorder, and this statistic is on the rise according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder and females between the ages of 15-24 with anorexia are 12 times more likely to die from the illness than any other causes of death. Pathological dieting and poor eating habits have become normalized on college campuses, with students skipping meals or or doing “fad diets” so that they can go out to eat or binge drink at night. To learn more about eating disorders on college campuses, check out my article appearing in The Tulane Hullabaloo.

For more information, check out these links:

National Eating Disorders Association

National Institute of Mental Health

Suicide is the second-largest leading cause of death on college campuses, with approximately 1,100 students dying by suicide every year. Click my latest column below to learn more about suicide in college students, the risk factors and warning signs, and knowing how and when to seek support. Although the answer to preventing these tragedies is complicated, it can certainly start with educating ourselves about this tragic mental health issue.

Do you ever make a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram post and then keep checking the likes, favorites, and retweets? Are you annoyed by selfies, yet take many of your own? How great do all those birthday wishes on Facebook feel? And don’t you wish people would just stop posting about their fabulous vacations and engagement rings!?

Social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends, share good news and network for business. However, there is a dark side to social media. Check out my latest article in the Tulane Hullabaloo!

As a psychiatry resident working in New Orleans, I have the opportunity to treat a wide range of interesting people. I also have the great opportunity to work with college students when they show up to the Tulane emergency room in crisis. Something that I often see in these students and other young adults is a pattern of self-injury.

What may seem strange or scary to some, is a daily impulse for others. Check out my latest column in The Hullabaloo: 

Learn more about bipolar disorder in young adults in the latest article for The Hullabaloo: 

For more information:

National Institute on Mental Health: Bipolar Disorder

College students vulnerable to bipolar disorder

Back to school with bipolar? How college can unleash mania