Are We Failing Our Students with Mental Illness?

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"Student affairs people are not angels tossing around the fairy dust of equality and love for all. They are real people who have been shaped by society and their personal experiences" 

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What if I told you that student affairs graduate programs (and the field in general) are ignoring 25% of the students we work with?

If you’re a cynic (or, let’s be real, just paying attention to higher ed issues), you would probably not be surprised. For all the sweet talk of social justice we still have yet to overthrow the oppressing factors within our institutional structures.

But at least we talk about some social justice topics even if we aren’t collectively taking action as much as we should. We’re barely talking about the following population of students.

According to NAMI and other researchers, more than 25% of college students have a mental illness.

Campus counseling center directors state that there has been an 85% rise in students with severe psychological issues being treated in the last five years. Student affairs administrators reported that they were spending more time dealing with troubled students and had seen marked increases in the following serious mental health problems on campus: Eating Disorders (+58%), Drug Abuse (+42%), Alcohol Abuse (+35%), Classroom Disruption (+44%), Gambling (25%), and Suicide Attempts (+23%) (Kitzrow, 2003, p.169).

These increases are a result of factors such as: some mental illnesses manifest in early adulthood (depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), new medicine and better childhood treatment measures allow students with mental illness to attend college who would have been unable in the past, society is placing new pressures on students, and it is becoming more socially acceptable to seek treatment which makes members of this population more visible at health centers and in research (Kitzrow, 2003, p.171).

So…why on earth are we not becoming more educated on these topics within graduate programs and professional development?

To play devil’s advocate, I could argue that we just simply do not have time. Most programs are 2-year programs and there’s barely enough time to cover more than the basics of counseling, diversity, administration, theory, etc. Besides, if students really want to learn more about mental health, they can always take a counseling or psychology elective!

And…well, I could say that we work in student affairs, not the counseling center. We are not equipped to fully treat students with mental illness. If a student says they are going through an issue we are, however, equipped to talk to them and point them to the right resources.

Okay, but really…

Those excuses don’t cut it. First, graduate students and current professionals need to take initiative in learning more on the issues we do not cover in our courses and professional development. On the flip side of the coin, by not educating student affairs graduate students in their programs and practitioners in the field via professional development, we are failing our students.

It’s not even about failing our students…we are a danger to our students.

"Whoa girl, stop"

“Whoa, you did not just say that.”

Student affairs people are not angels tossing around the fairy dust of equality and love for all. They are real people who have been shaped by society and their personal experiences. And if there is one thing that society is good at, it is helping to embed all sorts of prejudices within our minds with the subtlety of a mosquito – unless we scratch that itch it left behind, we usually don’t even notice or forget all about it.

Mental health stigma is a real thing. Think about it. How many times have you called someone “crazy” “schizo” “OCD” “bipolar”? Or said something like “Ugh, I’m so depressed ever since Firefly was cancelled” when at worst you were sad about it or at best it was just a minor annoyance? Or how many times have you judged someone for their real or perceived mental illness?

“Dude, stop being so PC,” you might say. And I would respond that a survey of people with mental illness cited repeated instances of dealing with stigma in their lives (Wahl, 1999) and that a moment to critically think about society and pop culture will have you recalling examples quicker than K Fed’s career (who?). Sure, to you calling yourself “OCD” is a ‘funny’ way of saying you like things organized but someone with OCD who overhears you may just feel mocked and dehumanized. Microaggressions are like papercuts – they sting and seem insignificant at first…until those cuts begin multiplying and become increasingly painful.

There are real life consequences of the lack of education in student affairs and inherent bias we all have (thanks Obama!). 

• 64 percent of young adults who are no longer in college are not attending college because of a mental health related reason.¹¹ Depression, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder are the primary diagnoses of these young adults.¹²
• 31 percent of college students have felt so depressed in the past year that it was difficult to function and more than 50 percent have felt overwhelming anxiety, making it hard to succeed academically.¹³ 
• More than 45 percent of young adults who stopped attending college because of mental health related reasons did not request accommodations.¹⁴ 50 percent of them did not access mental health services and supports either.¹⁵
• Overall, 40 percent of students with diagnosable mental health conditions did not seek help.¹⁶ 57 percent of them did not request accommodations from their school.¹⁷
• Concern of stigma is the number one reason students do not seek help.^{18 (NAMI)}

“So what you’re saying is student affairs is the worst and these stats are all our faults…” Nope! Definitely not! We just have some work to do. Unlike what people think, we’re not superheroes and most certainly not saviors.

But imagine how different the landscape would look like if we knew how to recognize symptoms, insert more programming and services for students with mental illness, and knew how to better train our staff (including student staff) on these issues. What if instead of letting words slide like “I’m so depressed” we actually became comfortable asking tough questions like “What do you mean by that?” and straight up offering resources? It’s difficult to have those questions if we feel uneducated on the subject. After all, what if they really do feel depressed? How do we react??

I’m not saying that no one in student affairs does this. There are phenomenal people out there who are trying to meet mental health needs on campuses. But instead of typically ignoring it in the curriculum and professional development, how about we make some changes?

Where to start making changes?

Following up, I’m not some political pundit who spits out thoughtless complaints without ideas for how to make changes. This is an issue of justice that I feel passionate about. Therefore, my contribution to the movement is to hold a discussion group with fellow HESA graduate students this semester. Seeing the lack of structured conversations on important issues like social justice taking place outside the classroom; and the overall desire by HESA students to have these conversations, I began DADA (Discussions Advancing Deeper Awareness). Clearly my Harry Potter geekiness contributed to the name, but my drive to change campus climates resulted in this group. DADA is a grassroots structured discussion group that so far this year has included 14 students in two discussion groups on the topic of “Spirituality” and “Mental Health Reboot”. It’s an opportunity to share personal experiences, ask questions, and philosophize – with research interwoven throughout.

What about you? How do you see yourself contributing to education on mental illness within our field and working towards justice for our students with mental illness? What are you already doing? Comment below or tweet at me (@NikiMessmore) with your thoughts and ideas. 

Join DADA today as we learn the Defense Against the Dark Arts of Social Injustice! :)

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References & Resources:

Kitzrow, M. A. (2003). The mental health needs of today’s college students: Challenges and recommendations. NASPA journal, 41(1), 167-181. Retrieved from http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic920416.files/mental%20health-%20counseling-1.pdf

Hunt, J., & Eisenberg, D. (2010). Mental health problems and help-seeking behavior among college students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(1), 3-10. Retrieved from http://shawover.com/school/WPE124/Week_4/Hunt_Eisenberg_2010_Mental_Health_College_Students.pdf

Eisenberg, D., Downs, M. F., Golberstein, E., & Zivin, K. (2009). Stigma and help seeking for mental health among college students. Medical Care Research and Review, 66(5), 522-541. Retrieved from http://www-personal.umich.edu/~daneis/papers/hmpapers/Stigma%20_Eisenberg%20et%20al%202009_.pdf

Mori, S. C. (2000). Addressing the mental health concerns of international students. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(2), 137-144. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb02571.x/abstract

Kisch, J., Leino, E. V., & Silverman, M. M. (2005). Aspects of suicidal behavior, depression, and treatment in college students: results from the spring 2000 national college health assessment survey. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 35(1), 3-13. Retrieved from http://www.crisis.org.cn/UploadFile/ReadParty/3-Aspects%20of%20Suicidal%20Behavior,%20Depression,and%20Treatment%20in%20College%20Students%20%28E%29.pdf

Nigatu, H. (September 19, 2013). 21 Comics that Capture the Frustrations of Depression. Buzzfeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/comics-that-capture-the-frustrations-of-depression

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/clipsy.7.1.48/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

Corrigan, P. W. (2000). Mental health stigma as social attribution: Implications for research methods and attitude change. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 7(1), 48-67.

Wahl, O. F. (1999). Mental health consumers' experience of stigma. Schizophrenia bulletin, 25(3), 467. Retrieved from http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/3/467.full.pdf

NAMI (2012). NAMI Mental Health Survey. Retrieved from http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Find_Support/NAMI_on_Campus1/collegereport.pdf

NAMI (n.d.). Learn about the issue. Retrieved from

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Find_Support/NAMI_on_Campus1/Learn_About_The_Issue/Learn_About_The_Issue.htm

Despicable Microaggressions: Sexism, Racism & More in Despicable Me 2

*Warning: some vague spoilers of the film Despicable Me 2*

"Lipstick Taser!!"

Social justice educators have a difficult time enjoying most pop culture. We cringe at most media due to blatant offensives and sneaky microaggressions. They exist because, well, we live in a society that promotes white supremacy and the patriarchy. That is, most pop culture promotes the idea of white people in charge and men in charge as the norm.

I went to Despicable Me 2 wanting to like it. After all, the minions are adorable! I seriously want a basement of minions and super villain equipment in the future. Unfortunately, not even the gibberish speech of the minions could make up for the sexism, racism, masculinity issues, and heteronormative behavior in Despicable Me 2.

Sexism

We start off with a birthday party for Agnes, the youngest of Gru’s daughters. One of Gru’s neighbors, Jillian, tries to set up our former super villain with one of her friends. The camera pans over to an unattractive slightly overweight woman who is apparently so heavy that she breaks the snack table upon leaning on it. Gru has a look of mixed fear and disgust, rejecting the matchmaking attempt.

Fat shaming, yayyyyy. Thank you, Universal Studios, for teaching our young women what is tolerable in our society! Girls, remember to be skinny so you can get wifed up!

Soon we’re introduced to Gru’s future partner and love interest Agent Lucy Wilde. Gru yanks out his huge phallic-shaped ray gun to fend off her attack…and Lucy subdues him with a lipstick taser.

A LIPSTICK TASER. Right. Okay…You know, I’m going to even skip commenting on the lipstick taser and just move along before I get a rage-induced aneurysm.

I crave strong female roles in media and was initially excited to see a female agent voiced by the great Kristen Wiig. The disappointment tasted extra bitter as the movie played out. Agent Lucy Wilde is a supposedly strong woman since she is 1.) a secret agent, and 2.) knows martial arts and wields weapons. However, she still falls into the same old tropes. She’s ditzy and demonstrates a lack of knowledge about many things – I get that her karate-chopping cupcakes was to provide humor in a kids film, but can a film introduce humor without making the woman look like an idiot who has no right being a secret agent? 

At the end of the day Lucy Wilde is an attempt at being an Action Girl but still is secretly a Damsel in Distress who literally gets Chained to a Rock (well, shark-torpedo thing).

The sexist microgressions troll along when Gru is matched up on a date with Shannon, this tall, thin woman who wears a revealing dress. She’s  a ‘Dumb Blonde’ stereotype who talks about physical fitness and ‘phonies’. When the date starts to go south after Shannon becomes angry at Gru, his partner Lucy shoots Shannon with a tranquilizer dart.

See Shannon: the blond slumped over the table.

 What comes next is such a great amount of violence against women that I cannot even believe any idiot thought this was appropriate for a children’s movie.

Lucy explains to the waiter that the unconscious Shannon had too much to drink, and then she and Gru decide to take Shannon home. The carry Shannon out the door, except the door keeps slamming against her head and they take no care to refrain from dropping her or knocking her into things. Then three people is too large for the vehicle, so they take Shannon out and tie her to the roof like a deer carcass. When Lucy slams on the brakes, Shannon flies off and crashes.

This was all meant for laughter. It’s funny, right? It’s kind of what a woman like Shannon deserves. I mean, a woman who dresses ‘slutty’ and talk about superficial things like Shannon certainly should not be respected. Drugging her and harming her – it’s funny!

Except it’s not. It perpetuates old stereotypes about what women ‘should’ and ‘should not’ be, and that it is okay to treat women violently when they fall outside of the societal norms.

Racism

Like most Hollywood movies, our protagonists are White and even most of the background characters are all White. But have no fear! Despicable Me 2 is totally not racist. In fact, they even have two (2) Mexican characters!

¡Ay, gracias Universal Studios! [ed. note: that is sarcasm]

'El Macho'

 Of course, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves – the Mexican characters are the antagonist (Eduardo ‘El Macho’ Perez) and his son Antonio.

Yep, you read that correctly – the only people of color with substantial speaking roles are the villains. One tries to destroy the world and the other destroys Margo’s, Gru’s  eldest daughter, heart. Oh, lazy storytelling and stereotypes, you are Hollywood’s favorite couple.

When Eduardo bursts onto the scene at Gru and Lucy’s mall store, he immediately speaks in a heavy Mexican accent, orders 200 cupcakes for his Cinco de Mayo party, and rips open his shirt to reveal burly chest hair and a Mexican flag tattoo.

But of course – all Mexicans/Latin@s in America have thick accents. *sigh*

And come ON. In most parts of America the only Mexicans celebrating Cinco de Mayo are the ones running Mexican restaurants and making bank on drunk gueros who think a good margarita comes pre-made in a Jose Cuervo bottle.

The lazy-writing induced Mexican stereotypes continue:

1. Eduardo does not have a guard dog, but a guard chicken (harkening to the cock fighting that is popular in some Latino countries/communities).
2. Eduardo dances salsa with a white woman, leaving her flustered (whitewashing and stereotying began in the early days of Hollywood because white men were afraid of their women being romanced away from their own race and this salsa act plays into that fear).
3.  Eduardo performs the Mexican Hat Dance as the password into his lair. 
4. Agnes,the (white) youngest daughter, proceeds to do a grito at the Cinco de Mayo party.

And as yet another observation – check out what happens when the minions are fed a serum that turns them into wild dangerous creatures? Their hair gets long and kinky and their skin turns dark into a deep plum color. A friend I studied critical race theory (CRT) with pointed this out and how it reinforces the idea of kinky hair and darker skin being “wild” and outside societal norms.

Above: the 'evil' minion.

Masculinity

Eduardo’s character is based in racist stereotypes, cumulating into him being “El Macho” aka the most masculine man alive who can drink glass, pick up trucks, and ride a freaking shark into a volcano with a bomb attached. This Masked Luchador is the epitome of machismo with a severe case of Testosterone Poisoning.

YEEEAH! You know a dude is badass when he's riding a freaking shark charged with bombs into a volcano!!

His son Antonio plays out the “Latin Lover” stereotype when he sweeps Margo off her feet, whispers sweet nothings in his musical accent, dances with her, and then leaves her for another woman.

Both of these characterizations put men ‘into a box’. Not only are these the only two stereotypes available to Latino men, but the former stereotype especially plays out to all men. In America we want our men to be strong! Tough! We don’t care for much else. They should be able to ride a freaking shark into a volcano with a bomb attached!

Heteronormative Behavior

Gru is consistently being told by his annoying neighbor and adorable daughters that he needs to find a woman and the movie pursues a romantic entanglement for our hero. Even his eldest daughter Margo gets into the romance game with her brief foray into a relationship with Antonio.

For an industry that cries out about how supportive it is of GLBT rights, it really does seem like almost every movie makes it necessary for a man-woman relationship, preferably one that ends with marriage and children.

Conclusion

I'm disappointed in Despicable Me 2. I understand that I should not have high expectations for Hollywood, but I see the world as it should be, not as it is. Hollywood can do better.

And we can do better by not supporting lazy projects like Despicable Me 2.  Friends, don't waste your money on this film.