Faculty Bibliography

Hopelessness is a clinically important state relative to morbidity and suicide risk among university students. We examined its role in relation to presenting concerns, diagnosis, psychopharmacologic treatment and spiritual orientation among students seeking treatment at a university counseling center. The most commonly identified concern was anxiety, followed by stress and depression. Eighty-two percent were given a DSM IV diagnosis. Hopelessness was higher among students dually diagnosed with anxiety and depressive disorders and those who were started on psychiatric medication. Spirituality was inversely correlated with hopelessness and constitutes a personal characteristic warranting further investigation. The concerns bringing students to counseling, the rates of DSM IV diagnosis and the use of psychiatric medication suggest a preponderance of psychopathology over developmental or situational concerns that may be more prominent than has been noted in the counseling literature. In this regard, hopelessness appears to be an important feature even beyond its relationship to suicidality and merits attention and evaluation in student counseling

Argues that D. T. Leon and R. J. Rotunda (see record 2000-05355-002) are right to call attention to the problems associated with excessive computer and Internet use and to the computer's potential for both adaptive and maladaptive consequences. To decide when computer use is a problem, it makes sense to adapt criteria used for pathological gambling and substance abuse. Although excessive computer use is a new problem on the college psychotherapy scene, the psychological issues underlying this problem are familiar ones: the struggles for intimacy, self-understanding, identity and self worth.

Once a rather marginal activity, drug treatment has become a major influence at campus mental health services. In this article we first cite data from our own counseling service illustrating rising rates of medication usage by incoming clients. Then we discuss consequences of drug treatment: the need for psychiatric services, the implications of collaborative drug and psychotherapeutic treatments, relationships with outside providers, and changes in both therapists' assessments and students' self-assessments. Drug treatment affects far more than a student's body. It appears to be a major factor in determining the direction college mental health is heading. (journal abstract)

Comments on the review of projective identification (PI) by W. N. Goldstein (see record 1991-19130-001) and discusses ways of clarifying the concept. It is suggested that PI should be viewed as reflective of the human need to communicate distress to others.