Traditionally diagnosed in children, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is now regarded as a life span condition. The academic difficulties experienced by children and adolescents with ADHD have been observed to continue into young adulthood. Treatment outcome studies demonstrate that behavioral and pharmacotherapeutic interventions…

On February 17, 2014, Dr. Jonathan Perry, former director of counseling at the University of Arkansas, sparked a lively debate on the listserv of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) by warning about the likelihood and dangers of underdiagnosing borderline II disorder. Standing out among the many…

Despite increased demands on university counseling center resources, some centers are offering comprehensive assessments for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The rationale for one counseling center's decision to provide comprehensive ADHD assessments is presented, including the clinical, legal, social, medical, financial, and…

University counseling centers are faced with the challenge of effectively treating bipolar students while also utilizing brief treatment frameworks and managing high patient volumes. Potential destabilization, particularly within the elevated mood phase, poses significant behavioral management issues for university clinicians and administrators,…

This study provides information about students seeking counseling (N = 3,844) at 9 institutions of higher education. The K-PIRS, an empirically validated measure, was used to assess 7 problem areas (mood difficulties, learning problems, food concerns, interpersonal conflicts, career uncertainties, self-harm indicators, and addiction issues).…

A complex of forceful influences is greatly accelerating the use of what are usually referred to as "psychiatric drugs," although most prescribing is not done by psychiatrists. Many other clinicians, including other kinds of physicians, and recently psychologists, prescribe these medications. The influences contributing to this dramatic surge…

This article presents how the Valparaiso University Student Counseling and Development Center (SCDC) developed and delivers a combined service treatment model integrating pharmacotherapy with psychotherapy for a subset of the center's clients evidencing significant psychiatric concerns. To explicate the model, several documents that may be of…

College age students are in the midst of important psychosocial and neurobiological changes. The developmental fluidity of this period of life compels caution in diagnosing and treating depressive episodes, especially in discriminating between bipolar and non-bipolar depression. Treating college age students with depression requires adherence to…

That two-thirds of depressed adults are resistant to medication has led to the addition of psychotherapy to treatment, but is medication necessary? Results are at least as good with psychotherapy alone, and the relapse rate is less. Handling of suicidal danger, sleep disorders, and common depressing issues in college students are discussed along…

Many counselors, psychologists, and social workers assist clients to take psychotropic drugs but recoil from helping clients to rethink drug use or stop taking drugs. They might fear resisting the prevailing ideology, violating "standards of care," or contradicting physicians' advice. This article discusses withdrawal emergent reactions from…

Stress-related mental health problems are among the most common and disabling medical conditions in the United States, and they have increased in frequency over the past 100 years. Lifestyle changes such as diet, sleep, activity level and the nature of modern stresses may all play a role in the increasing frequency of depression, and these changes…

This chapter presents answers to the twenty questions asked at the beginning of this volume, articulates a number of generally poor current practices of pharmacotherapy, makes suggestions for improvement in treatments combining medication and psychotherapy, and proposes important research at colleges and universities to gain understanding of use…

In 2002, the first in a series of working conferences was held as a collaboration between the counseling service of Bennington College and the Austen Riggs Center's Erikson Institute. The title of the first conference was "The Escalating Use of Medications by College Students: What Are They Telling Us, What Are We Telling Them?". It was meant to…

America's romance with certainty leads to a belief that substances improve life and fits with the New Psychiatry. It's use of psychotropic medications to treat an array of mental illnesses changes evaluations, treatment and emergency coverage. The rising abuse of its prescription drugs alters the campus party scene, and challenges pretenses about…

In recent years psychiatric medications have been prescribed for college students and the general public in burgeoning numbers. The vast majority of these prescriptions are written by non-psychiatrists. In the opinion of the author, psychiatric prescriptions are too often written under duress by physicians seeking a quick fix for distressed…