Free psychiatric services will soon be available for SF State students at the Student Health Services (SHS) on campus.

With unlimited visits, the psychiatrist will be able to spend more time with students who have specific psychiatric conditions that are “complex, complicated and under exacerbation of their problem,” said Dr. Alastair Smith, director of SHS.

The psychiatric services will encompass evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and intervention that deals with a broad range of mental health issues such as mood and behavior disorders, eating disorders to substance-abuse and anxiety disorders. The psychiatrist will also prescribe medication whereas campus psychologists and psychotherapy specialists work with a person’s emotional disturbances and do not prescribe medication.

This service was created in response to a campus-wide committee, Assisting our Students and Assisting our High-Risk Students, which assessed psychiatric issues at SF State, Smith said.

Christine Gordon, assistant to Dr. Bowman, director of Counseling and Psychology and Services, confirmed discussion and recommendations by the committee.

The committee felt there were a significant number of psychiatric problems on campus, Smith said. Committee members, including campus police and teaching faculty, reported many instances of disruptive behavior by students. They did not recognize the behaviors as misconduct but questioned if behaviors were due to psychiatric related health issues.

“SHS hopes to accomplish prevention and treatment, if we could diagnose and get students to appropriate care and treatment,” Smith said.

To add a heavier weight for the need of psychiatric services on campus, Smith cited psychiatric-related high-risk circumstances. Stress from leaving home for the first time and being on one’s own can lead to depression, said Dr. Smith. Another risk is that mental disease manifestations are prevalent in the first 20 years of age.

“We know suicide is a significant problem amongst student populations,” Smith said.

It is expected that in the United States, 1,100 college students will kill themselves this year, 33 percent of all freshmen students suffer from depression, needing assistance, 10 percent of all students think about suicide, and 7 percent of students make a plan, said Dr. Smith.

In Fall 2005, nearly 52 percent, about 11,911 SF State undergraduate students, are between the ages of 20-24 and more than half of new students are first-time freshmen, according to the office of University and Budget Planning.

Dr. Kim Bullock, practicing psychiatrist and a professor at Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, elaborated her views on stigma and misconceptions associated with depression, therapy, and psychiatry and how they affect mental health treatment.

People sometimes avoid seeking treatment because there is stigma that a psychiatrist will instantly prescribe medications and characterize a person’s experience as medically or psychologically abnormal, she said.

“Also, when people are suffering, many times there is a feeling of hopelessness associated with their condition. There is that false belief that nothing is going to help, so there is no use in attempting treatment,” said Bullock.

Darcy Royland, 18, speech language pathology major, said that psychiatrists are needed for serious cases.

“Definitely for rape victims, people with psychological disorders and people who have a hard time with talking to others, communicative disorders,” Royland said.

For others, stress and life changes can weigh the new college student down.

Rachael Gero, 22, business and marketing administration major SF State, said during her freshman year of college in Arizona, she observed her peers grapple with stress of college, credit card debt, managing time and finding work and many of them have left school with no plans to return.

Gero faced loneliness and had to make big adjustments with dormitory living but she chose different ways of dealing with these issues.

“To be honest, each and every one of us has the capability to figure it out on our own. It may take a little longer than we want to,” Gero said about psychotherapy and psychiatry services.
But students who seek psychiatric help may be able to do it soon.

“I think it will be a great asset to the student and enhance the health of all students,” Dr. Smith said.