Am I Right, Or Very Wrong?

[nicebloke1]

Day after day you hear of people having mental health problems / condition. Who decides this? because its not a great lable to carry round with you if the diagnosis is wrong. How many have had the condition confirmed by a doctor?
It just appears to me that the condition is thrown about willy nilly when the slightest problem or pressure of daily life gets a little difficult.
I ask the question because I've just been watching a mum on the news who lost her daughter to suicide, and very sad indeed. Her daughter was at universtity, ( in her 2nd year i think) but no MH confirmed, but she claims that many students suffer MH Issues? Again whos decided that? So my question is really after my rant. Is the term mental health being over used without a proper diagnosis, or,its just a case that, in this case, cant cope with the work required at Uni?

[jno]

plenty of people can't cope with work at university or wherever. Not many of them kill themselves. That's what might be seen as diagnostic of mental health problems, and others understandably wonder if a life might have been saved if it had been picked up earlier.

[THECORBYLOON]

If you couldn't cope with the work at University, would you commit suicide?

[Prudie]

Dunno, is it a sign of the times and there is just so much pressure now or is it just a convenient explanation? I genuinely don't know but think a lot of answers will not be the same as mine. I went to Uni, yonks ago obviously, but the vast majority of my fellow students just got on with it, no suicides in 3 years, mental issues may have been there but not discussed.
I also then went on to teach in a secondary school for 10 years. No pupil was diagnosed as ADHD, autisistic, Asperger's or mentally ill. Now it's almost every child, I think there are loads of ABers who describe children in their family as being one of those. Either it's an acceptable tag for poor performance or behaviour or something fairly dramatic and bad has happened to our society.

[jno]

two acquaintances of mine killed themselves in my first year at university, Prudie, and that was way back when. Not in England but similar enough.

[nicebloke1]

The thing is this mum was demanding some sort of government involvement for students welfare. I just cant see what they expect government can do for someone that cant cope with the pressure of uni, other than leave, and do something that dont require so much pressure.

[Prudie]

Jno only 3000 students at my Uni so statistically not very likely. Even now it seems the incidence of suicide amongst Uni students in UK is between 3&4 per 100,000, all tragic of course but not that common.

[jno]

most places do seem to have student welfare officers, who - if they know a student's having problems - ought to be able to do some basic checks to see if the problems are to do with coursework or if they're linked to any kind of depression.

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/help-for-teenagers-young-adults-and-students/student-mental-health-counselling/

[jno]

Prudie, there were about 8000 at my uni. But I wonder if the problems aren't more common in the first year or so, when students might have the most trouble adjusting?

[bookbinder]

This seems to be an example of the 'it's not my fault' syndrome, which is prevalent nowadays. It's a case of 'I can't do what I'm expected to do, so it must be some kind of ailment, and someone will have to do something for me.'

[nicebloke1]

I've lost count of how many celebrities claim to have MH problems, but they never seem to shy away from the TV camara whenever they get the chance.

[jno]

mental health has nothing to do with appearing on TV.

[nicebloke1]

It is when most of them claim to have a lack of confidence jno. You need bags of it in front of the camara. Dont you think?

[andy-hughes]

nicebloke - // You need bags of it in front of the camara. Dont you think? //

No, you need to look as though you have bags of it.

And that's not the same as actually having it when the lights are off, the crowd's gone home, and you are alone with yourself.

[Old_Geezer]

A lack of self confidence can be temporarily bypassed when playing a role rather than trying to be yourself.

[pastafreak]

I think there's a lot of out of date, pre conceived notions of what constitutes mental health problems. Maybe those who experience problems need labels glued to their foreheads....either that or they need to be displaying obvious and unacceptable behaviour.

[nicebloke1]

Looking as though you have bags must be part of the illness then. Being untrue to yourself must be harmfull in the long run. I think I would relax once the lights went off. But, everyone is different on how they cope with pressure.

[THECORBYLOON]

'Every year, around 100 university students are lost to suicide in the UK.

Summer Lytton Cobbold, a student and ForThe100 campaigner, said: "It does exist in schools and in workplaces and prisons even, but not universities and I don't understand why that is because I feel like students at university are one of the most vulnerable, you're at a very vulnerable stage of your life."

Hilary Grime, whose daughter Phoebe died by suicide in 2021, is part of the campaign calling for a legal duty of care at universities, and a framework that can be followed by all places of higher education.'

[jno]

well put, andy

[Prudie]

It's rather relevant to mention that between 40% and 50% of all 18 year olds go to University now. If they didn't would the numbers of suicides reduce - implying it's being at Uni that's the cause or would it happen anyway?

[nicebloke1]

Good question prudie! One I doubt anyone could come up with an answer too.