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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- An alarming study about suicide provides insight into the pressures surrounding college life. Researchers found a growing number of college students have serious suicidal thoughts. Typically, when these thoughts occur most students dont talk about them or get help.
Out of 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities across the country, 15 percent reported having seriously considered attempting suicide and more than 5 percent said they tried at least once.
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Psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin reported the findings based on responses from a web-based survey conducted by the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education. Study author David J. Drum, Ph.D. and co-authors hypothesized that out of a college population of 18,000, more than 1,000 undergraduates will seriously contemplate taking their lives at least once during the year. Two-thirds of the student population will think about it more than once.
The reasons students give for having these thoughts are relief from emotional or physical pain, romantic problems and school or academic problems. They describe their feelings as intense and brief, lasting one day or less. More than half of those who experienced a suicidal crisis did not look for professional help.
The authors suggest that instead of focusing only on students in crisis, a new model should be developed to include everyone who has suicidal thoughts. Prevention needs to involve a cross section of campus personnel. This would reduce the percentage of students who engage in suicidal thinking, who contemplate how to make an attempt and who continue to make attempts, Drum was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: 116th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, August 2008
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Lindsay Braun at lbraun@ivanhoe.com.
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