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By DEB KILGORE
Depression is the most common
control^ psychological problem of students at
both Texas A&M University and the
1 University of Texas, said Dr. Wade
Birch, director of Texas A&M’s Per
sonal Counseling Service, and Mari-
Pizza
posted ml lyn Hatfield, executive director of
°f theft UT’s Counseling-Psychological
Services Center.
Hatfield said, “Most (UT) stu
dents come in because they are de
pressed for a variety of reasons.
Their second most important con
cern is improving their self-esteem.
Their third concern is developing
relationships with friends, and the
fourth worry is making good
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Got a vice? Seek advice
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1977
Ask the problem-solvers
Similarly, Texas A&M students
are concerned with solving depres
sion, loneliness, relationships with
friends and self-esteem problems,
Birch said.
“In counseling students, certain
problems or themes tend to reoc
cur,” Birch said. “The most com
mon theme is what I call ‘resolving
the parent-child relationship.’ It is
going from relating to one’s parents
as a child to relating to the parents
as an adult.
“Another problem is called ‘form-
’ a personal value system.’ The
student must decide what is best for
him in terms of alcohol, drug use
and boyfriend or girlfriend relation
ships,” he said.
The selection of a future job is an
important and often troublesome
;etinj>, to decision, Birch said. Some parents
White Hsldemand that their kids make a cer
tain grade point ratio and graduate
in four years. Texas A&M students
themselves are very grade-
uipmenl.
exas AM
d Enginee
pants will
technifj conscious and competitive, Birch
tation, >: said.
>-directa.
tionalhg Aggies and UT students also have
abilities! similar counseling services to solve
medial4 these problems. Both Texas A&M’s
lechanici and UT’s counseling centers offer
individual, group and emergency
counseling. Counseling is free and
available to all students at both uni
versities. Faculty members are not
counseled at Texas A&M, but UT
faculty members are counseled on a
correct:! one-time basis,
oidait
At Texas A&M, most counseling
is on an individual basis and comes
under the personal-social category,
Birch said.
"Over 50 percent of our cases in-
lite witf rolve problems ranging from boyf-
towardl fends to suicidal thoughts to in-
awardofl lompatible roommates,” Birch re
ported.
The counselors do a lot of listen
ing and forming alternatives for stu
dents. However, students don’t
have to have serious problems to
use the services, Birch said.
“We are primarily here to assist
students with typical con-
0 normal
cerns. In fact, 95 percent of Texas
A&M’s student population is quite
normal,” he said.
The counseling service also offers
marriage and human sexuality coun
seling, group and career counseling.
The psychologists are trying
group counseling in two areas. They
have general development groups
and topical groups, like assertive
ness training. The group counseling
is successful because the staff gets
student feedback, Birch said.
Like Texas A&M, personal-social
counseling on an individual basis is
predominant at UT. However, Hat
field said, “We (psychologists at UT)
are geared to short-term counseling
to help students solve their im
mediate problems and stay in
school. We don’t have the staff or
time to do long-term therapy for so
many students, so we refer them to
UT’s health center or an Austin psy
chologist. ”
UT’s group counseling is also di
vided into two areas: personal
growth groups with group therapy
and focused groups.
“Personal growth groups help
students become more aware of
their own feelings and learn how to
deal with others,” Hatfield said.
“Group therapy helps students
clarify and solve important issues,”
she said.
Focused groups assist in develop
ing specific skills, like assertion
skills and relaxation methods, she
explained.
“More women ask for counseling
because it’s OK for women to talk
about thier problems. It’s not accept
ed for men to let out their emotions
Birch said.
However, Texas A&M and UT
differ in some services offered.
Career counseling is offered at
Texas A&M but is not included in
UT’s counseling service. But UT’s
Counseling-Psychological Services
Center does offer 5-10 minute self-
help tapes and 24-hour telephone
counseling.
The tapes give information and
suggestions on how to handle
everyday problems from dealing
with depression to how to choose a
major, Hatfield said. They are avail
able 24 hours a day and she said
they are very popular with students.
Telephone counseling provides a
continuous counseling service for
immediate personal crises, Hatfield
said.
Telephone counselors do nothing
but answer the phone. They are
trained to know when it is a real
emergency and have a direct line to
the health center and the police de
partment. Many students prefer to
call in for help since they don’t have
to identify themselves, she said.
UT also has a walk-in team of psy
chologists on duty that take care of
emergencies and new clients that
come in without appointments.
Texas A&M’s emergency services
are similar to UT’s. The personal
counseling service has one psychol
ogist free each morning and after
noon, Monday through Friday, to
respond to real emergencies, Birch
said. At night, from 5 p.m. to 8
a.m., one psychologist takes care of
all emergencies that occur that
week.
“If an emergency occurs after of-
“Over 50 percent of our cases
involve problems ranging from boy
friends to suicidal thoughts to incom
patible roommates," Birch reported.
fice hours, call the police depart
ment or health service and they will
decide if the student needs to see a
psychologist then or the next morn
ing,” Birch added.
Birch and Hatfield agreed the fol
lowing signs indicate an emergency
may exist:
■i- Discussion of suicide, includ
ing how, when and where.
-r Unusual behavior changes, like
unexplained crying, inability to
sleep or acutely increased activity.
-r Physical illness, like severe
headaches or chronic digestive
problems.
4- Drug or alcohol abuse. (Drug
and alcohol problems are confiden
tial except when another person is
endangered.)
The majority of Texas A&M stu
dents requesting counseling are
women who are either sophomores
or juniors, Birch said.
“More women ask for counseling
because it’s okay for women to talk
about their problems,” Birch added.
“It’s not accepted for men to let out j
their emotions.”
At UT, juniors, seniors and
graduate students compose the
majority of those seeking counsel
ing, with equal number of men and
women, Hatfield said.
Texas A&M’s center counseled
1,185 Aggies in 1976-77 with six
psychologists, four interns and one
psychiatrist. UT’s center counseled
over 10,000 students with 11 psy
chologists, six interns and five
psychiatrists.
Birch said, “We are inadequate in
psychiatric help. The American
Psychiatric Association says one
psychiatrist is needed for every
20,000 people. Since we have
29,000 students at Texas A&M, we
need another psychiatrist.”
The staff cannot administer drugs
without a psychiatrist or a doctor.
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The present psychiatrist. Dr.
Robert Potts, only visits here three
hours twice a week, Birch said.
Texas A&M also needs more psy
chologists. “We always have a heavy
schedule and a waiting list of about
30 students, so we have little time
left for preventing crisis through
programs,” Birch said.
Hatfield said UT’s center is
adequately large for the number of
students enrolled. However, she
added that during exams there are
not enought psychologists to coun
sel students.
“UT’s center got going after the
Whitman shooting incident. (Whit
man shot 13 and wounded 44 per
sons from the bell tower on the UT
campus in August of 1966.) It put a
focus qn the availablity of counseling
and caused our counseling service to
grow,” Hatfield said.
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