Colleges Intolerant of Mental Health Issues

Yesterday I was doing my daily perusal of the news from the world of mental health and bipolar disorder. I try to spend some time each day staying up to date with happenings and developments. Recently I built a website where I aggregate news feeds into big meaningful lists of filtered articles, sorted by date and time. Each day there are things that cause me alarm, or concern, or maybe even to laugh. But sometimes an article motivates me to share, so that is what I’m doing.

From the Chicago Tribune: Colleges Take Hard Line On Psychological Problems.

From large public institutions to small, private colleges, a growing number of schools are taking punitive action against students who display mental illness, ranging from bipolar disorder to eating disorders, experts say.

Take note: "…students who DISPLAY mental illness." Does this mean an actual diagnosis is not needed? And what constitutes a "mental illness"?

(A student) was in her French history class at Eastern Illinois University, when she felt the symptoms -- the waves of nausea, the tightness in the throat -- that signaled an impending flashback.

Threading her way through the row of desks that September afternoon, (the student) -- who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder -- willed herself to the door, blacking out just outside her classroom.

Twelve days later, the school gave her two options: Take a medical leave or we'll kick you out.

Obviously this institution feels PTSD falls under a classification they can regulate. I wonder what they tell returning combat veterans, many of whom will experience PTSD symptoms, that want to attend school at their university?

I understand that we have the expectation of a reasonable level of safety at our schools. But should that expectation be higher than a mall? Or a workplace?

Some students who remain on campus… have become afraid to seek treatment. When (student name) sought help at the EIU's counseling center for bulimia in 2004, she ended up on medical leave instead.

"I was told that I was too much of a liability," she explained. She returned to Charleston the next semester, after participating in an eating disorders program. But when she relapsed a month later and confided in a counselor, she was asked to leave campus again, she said.

So it’s not just mood or mental disorders, eating disorders will also keep a student off-campus?

While this article covers Eastern Illinois University, the problem is widespread.

"The message is that we only want people here who don't have physical or mental impairments," said Karen Bower, an attorney with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. "And if you have one, you'd better have it under control at all times."

The Washington-based organization represents students who were removed from campus. Bower used to get one call a month; now, she says, she's getting one a week.

A four-fold increase in cases of students removed from campus? In today’s environment I’m not surprised.