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…

Three decades of research into the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental disorders failed to pan out. The biological causes of most mental disorders remain unknown. However, it is now well understood that psychiatric drugs work by perturbing neurotransmitter systems, and that the brain, in response to this blocking of normal function, undergoes a…

The policies and practices of small college counseling centers have been neglected in the literature at a time when campus mental health services are under scrutiny. A national sample of 181 small campus counseling center directors responded to the Iowa Counseling Center Survey-Revised. Their responses were compared with information about large…

The last two decades have seen significant changes in organizational structures within higher education. Counseling centers are no exception and have been the target of reorganizations and mergers that often involve student health services. Outcomes of these efforts have varied; some being quite successful while others have resulted in failures…

The use of time limits in psychotherapy with college students has become a commonly used strategy in counseling centers that are faced with increased demand for services and decreasing resources. However, this has been a controversial issue and there is no consensus at present as to whether or not the use of time limits with college students is…

Statistics suggest a steady increase in the number of international students attending universities in the U.S. However, limited information is available to guide professionals in the delivery of effective mental health services to this diverse group. University counseling centers have repeatedly reported little to no success with international…