With campus tragedies like the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois shootings occurring in recent years, a lot of the public’s attention has been driven away from other important issues on college campuses. For example, the mental and physical health problems that students face and the shortage of psychiatric treatment available to them.

When Amanda Skillman first came to Eastern, she was excited and “ready to start a new and fun experience.” Soon enough, reality set in and Skillman realized that college is not all about partying, and it can take a toll on one’s mental and physical health.

Skillman, a junior health studies major, recalls her freshman year as being one full of homesickness and anxiety.

“My freshman year I would travel home nearly every weekend to see my family,” Skillman said. “Throughout my first year at EIU, I started to develop very severe anxiety. I could no longer go out and have fun like I usually would and I also could not sit through classes due to my anxiety.”

Three major life-changing events also contributed to Skillman’s anxiety during her freshman and sophomore years at Eastern.

“I totaled two cars while commuting to Charleston and I also had to deal with the loss of a best friend. The anxiety I experienced was overwhelming,” she said.

For Skillman, the only way she could manage her anxiety problems was by skipping classes.

“I started to skip classes because of the fear of not being able to sit through them without experiencing a panic attack. School became much harder than I ever thought it would be because of the overwhelming fear of having a panic attack in front of my classmates,” she said.

Monte Holt, a senior physical education major, transferred from Concordia University his sophomore year, and did not have a lot of friends at Eastern. Holt said that the combination of not having a lot of friends to turn to, living alone in a dorm and having a lot of homework to do caused him to experience bouts of depression.

“After a while, I noticed that I didn’t feel well at all. I would stay in my bed with the windows closed all day and I started to skip classes and drink a lot on the weekends,” Holt said. “After drinking, I would get really angry and just want to be alone. My friends tried to help, but I just shut them out.”

Holt also said that homesickness might have played a role in his depression.

“I don’t know if it was just all the work I had to get done in class or being homesick, because I couldn’t go home more than two or three times a year, but it all started to get to me,” Holt said. “I felt stressed all the time and couldn’t focus on school, but lucky for me the semester ended about a month later so I had a nice break to go home, and I guess I recovered from that.”

Alex Pierce, a sophomore kinesiology major and football player, has experienced both mental and physical strain as a direct result of school. The most debilitating problem involves his sleeping patterns.

“School has affected me in both ways, I always lose tons of sleep and I have developed patterns of insomnia from all the stress,” Pierce said.

The loss of sleep has made it hard for Pierce to concentrate in class.

“I’m physically not recovering from the day before and as a result I become mentally drained all day in class, so it’s hard to focus on what is going on,” he said.

Pierce said he usually talks to his teammates when he is stressed out because they are like his family at school.

Andy Lietard, a junior English major, transferred from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale to Danville Community College after a semester. Lietard then transferred to Eastern in 2009 as a sophomore. While attending SIU-C, Lietard got caught up in the party scene and was put on probation status with the school multiple times.

“I went to Carbondale for a semester out of high school because I heard it was a party town. While there, I started getting into drugs that I had been off of for six months, and I also turned into a complete alcoholic,” Lietard said.

Lietard began experiencing seizures that doctors told him were stress related. Two of the seizures occurred while he was driving, but he was never seriously injured.

“I think that the seizures occurred because of the stress that I was feeling and because of the drugs I was taking to deal with it. I was stressed from school and because I broke up with my girlfriend of two years because I had to move for school,” Lietard said. “I also had to quit jobs because of moving, and I went through a court case with my dad which put me in debt until a judge told him he had to pay for my schooling.”

Lietard transferred to DACC because of the legal issues with his dad and probation problems with SIU-C.

“In August of 2009 I transferred to Eastern. Three months before that, I was arrested with a total of about 50 pills that included Xanax, OxyContin and Vicodin,” Lietard said. “At that point, I’d had seven seizures and I had my last one in December of 2009.”

Lietard started taking pills his sophomore year of high school while hanging out with older students. He said that by the time he was in college he was taking them more often so that he would not feel overwhelmed, but the pills caused his temper and mood to constantly change.

“I would be really furious, or really happy, or really sad, the only time I didn’t have extreme emotions was when I was bored,” he said. “I went through a phase of depression too, I quit taking my seizure medicine because I started to not care if I had one or not.”

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Lietard turned to his mom and sister for support. When he did not feel like talking about his problems he would clear his mind and hang out with friends.

“I would hang out with my friend Johnny a lot because I knew that I didn’t need to talk about what was happening with him because we were so close he knew what I was dealing with. When I was with him, we would just forget about our problems and have a good time,” he said.

After talking to a lot of students, it became apparent that most of them do not even know where to go on campus if they need psychological help.

This brings up an issue of concern, the lack of psychiatric treatment available to students.

“Just a little more than half of U.S. colleges or universities have even one psychiatrist working with students on campus, and most of those have a psychiatrist working only part time due to a lack of funding,” said Jerald Kay, the chairman of the American Psychiatry Association’s Committee on Mental Health on College and University Campuses.

According to the Counseling Center, Eastern has one psychiatrist available to students who is on contract through the university and is available one, sometimes two, days each week.

The difference between a psychiatrist and counselor is that a psychiatrist can prescribe medication to treat mental health symptoms, while a counselor does not prescribe medication and focuses more on psychotherapy and therapeutic techniques to relieve symptoms, according to the Counseling Center.

When asked if the lack of psychiatric treatment available to college students is a problem, the Counseling Center said that they are currently able to meet the needs presented to their office regarding psychiatric treatment.

“The number of students and need is different at every campus. We see the substantial benefit of pairing symptom relief through medication and treatment through psychotherapy when necessary. Therefore, at universities where this is not available, we see how it would be difficult and problematic,” the Counseling Center said.

Another issue that has become prevalent among the college community is that college psychiatrists and counselors are not specialized in college mental health.

Cathy Schoonover, a psychology instructor, said she knows that college-level students experience unique issues.

“I believe it is very important that college counselors have a strong developmental psychology background and either specialized training in college-student issues or a lot of experience,” Schoonover said. “I don’t think this is the reality, but it should be. Dealing with emerging adults in a college context presents specific sets of problems that aren’t typically seen in the world at large.”

The Counseling Center said that although specialized training in college mental health is not required, counselors hone in on different skills and techniques when working with the college population compared to other populations, like geriatrics for example.

The counselors said that they see all areas of mental health pathology. Commonly, they see students who are dealing with adjustment, relationship, anxiety, depression and time- and stress-management issues.

The Counseling Center said that treatment varies from client to client, and that treatment plans are individualized. The counselors also said that increasing social support and involvement is beneficial in helping to treat many different disorders.

The most common problems that Schoonover sees in her classroom involve lack of time and motivation.

As far as lack of time is concerned, many students are attempting to work, at least, part time, often full time and carry a full academic load, she said.

“They simply have too many things going on, all demanding their time,” Schoonover said. “With some, it’s not so much a lack of time, but a lack of motivation. If a student doesn’t want to come to class and do the required work, why is he or she paying to take the course?”

Schoonover said that some students have personal and family problems that also interfere with their ability to function effectively in the classroom, but unfortunately professors are often unaware of these problems.

Schoonover is a former Eastern student, and she remembers being in college herself.

“I would suggest that students who feel hopeless or lost initially talk to someone they feel comfortable honestly confiding in. It can be a parent, teacher, friend, or professional counselor, but I would emphasize that they should not suffer in silence,” she said. “Depending on the extent of the problem, empathy, help rearranging priorities and referrals can be made. Never be afraid to ask for advice or help.”

The Counseling Center encourages relaxation techniques for many students with high stress, and they also promote overall wellness in helping to treat any pathology.

“Time management and study skills help with stress, as well as scheduling in enjoyable activities for yourself,” the Counseling Center said.

Other than turning to family and friends, the Counseling Center said that professional help is necessary when dealing with areas of mental health.

“Family and friends function as good and necessary forms of support, but professionals can provide symptom reduction and the treatment aspect,” the Counseling Center said.

Cassie Bartolucci can be reached at 581-2812 or ckbartolucci@eiu.edu.