College mental health and social change.

Abstract

The mental health of college students has been a concern to some colleges for more than half a century, but for most an awareness of college students' problems has been recent. Today the questions raised are numerous. Are suicide rates showing a dramatic increase? Are college students adopting use of drugs—especially the amphetamines and hallucinogens—as a way of life? What motivates the destructive student radicals? Are they mentally ill, or is their apparent fanatic devotion to their cause a purely sociologic phenomenon? What are the main types and causes of morbidity among college students? Coincident with the growing tendency to criticize or attack all existing activities within the college setting, college psychiatric services are being cited as failing to keep the confidence of students and acting as agents of the administration. Some critics urge that psychiatrists should have no communication with members of the faculty and administration, thus favoring a return to the official absence of concern that existed before college psychiatric services were established.