High students a low priority.

WHEN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PHYSIcians met recently to shape their health-care agenda, concerns about student depression, substance abuse, and suicide--and what institutions of higher ed are and are not doing about them--were a major discussion driver. According to an AMA report, colleges are becoming overburdened by stress, depression, and alcohol--and other drug-related problems among their students. Adequate prevention, screening, and follow-up interventions are often not implemented or not integrated into campus policies and services.

For example, while nearly all colleges provide general student alcohol education programs, recommended routine screenings for alcohol use and campus programs designed for student substance abusers are much less common.

And with the complex problems of suicide and suicide-related behaviors on campuses, the report notes, IHEs can't rely solely on campus counselors or community mental-health centers.

A few of the suggested strategies:

* Facilitating agreements between administrative, academic, and health units to address targets of mental health and suicide-related interventions.

* Ensuring that college counseling professionals are prepared to work with psychiatrists, primary-care physicians, community mental-health workers, substance-abuse professionals, other related professionals, and other campus departments.

* Developing a compassionate mental-health leave policy, similar to medical-leave policies for students with life-threatening conditions, to ensure that students can resume their studies once their symptoms are managed.

* Enlisting student "heroes" (such as athletes, actors, and peer leaders who have personal experience with anxiety, depression, and related problems) to help send messages to students about recognizing depression and getting help.

* Targeting both the general campus population and identifiable at-risk populations (i.e., Greek organization members, athletes) through programs.

The report can be found online at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/16411.html.