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By JUDIE PORTER
Battalion Reporter
A recent issue of Psychology
Today stated, “over the next nine
months as many as 78 percent of
the 7,500,800 students enrolled in
American colleges may suffer
some syptoms of depression.”
The reason for this massive de
pression, it said, is the misconcep
tions college students have about
the world and the stresses they
encounter. Students inflate situa
tions out of proportion so problems
that are only temporary setbacks
become heavy emotional burdens.
Dr. Lannes Hope, professor of
Educational Psychology at Texas
A&M University, said a college stu
dent’s depression is caused from
relationships with the opposite sex,
fears about careers and jobs, and
problems centering around his
philosophies of life.
“So much more is expected of
college students than should be
expected,” Hope said.
Most parents don’t really know
what their kids are up against when
they go to college, Hope said. Stu
dents are continually faced with
change and may find their basic
values of life being questioned.
“It is a time to go out and try ev
erything,” Hope said, ‘‘but you
should guard against taking any
options which you can’t turn back
from.”
The causes of depression are as
numerous as the number of people
enrolled in this University. A rainy
day, failing a test, feeling guilty
over forgetting a friend’s birthday
or facing another Monday morning
after a long weekend.
The blues don’t bother with sex,
age, race, religion, height or
weight. They thrive on self-pity and
a willingness to let depression to
continue.
“The most common physiologi
cal effects of depression are a
general slowing down of every
thing,” said Kerry Hope, a coun
selor with the Campus Personal
Counseling Center. “There is usu
ally a sleep disturbance and an ap
petite unbalance but every depres
sion is different.”
When a person is depressed, he
may eat all the time or may never
eat. He may sleep constantly but
still be tired, or not be able to sleep
and be irritable. His patterns
change and deep down, he knows
something is wrong.
Many depressed people lack the
drive to carry on routine work or
social activities. They wake up in
the morning and don’t get out of
bed. Or even if they do get up, they
do no better than if they had stayed
in bed all day.
The causes of depression may
be more serious than feeling guilty
over forgotten correspondence or
failing a test. A break-up of a rela
tionship or the death of a friend or
family member can put a person
into a temporary tailspin.
Depression never starts out
being serious. It may begin as a
type of shelter where a person iso
lates himself in order to mend, re
build or restore his inner self.
A person sometimes uses the
blues to give himself a chance to
recharge his emotional battery,
that is why the blues fade away
when that person is restored and
ready to face the world again.
Whether you call it depression Dr
the blues, green meanies or the
blahs, most psychologists agree
that a case of the blues from time
to time is normal.
Abnormality occurs when the
blues frequently reappear, shake
an individual severely or last over a
period of time.
When behavior starts jeopardiz
ing school work or relations with
other people, then that person
needs some help, Hope said.
“It’s better to err on the side of
coming for counseling too soon
than too late,” she added.
How can you get relief from the
green meanies?
Keep your day full so you’re too
busy to be depressed.
Do some soul-searching. Find
out what it is exactly that is bother
ing you.
Get active. If you have been
thinking about waxing your car
lately or weeding out the garden —
do it.
Help relieve pressure by chang
ing your routine. Little things like
walking a different way to class or
eating dinner at a different time can
help.
Spend some money on yourself.
Buy an album you have been want
ing a long time or go out to eat a
good meal.
3 counseling centers
help beat the blues
A person feeling depressed or
lonely should realize he isn’t alone
and shouldn’t be afraid to go to for
help.
“The bravest people in the world
are the ones that come in for coun
seling,” said Kerry Hope. These
people have enough brains and
care about themselves enough to
know they can’t handle it them
selves.”
Hope is a counselor at the Per
sonal Counseling Service, one of
three on-campus counseling serv
ices available to Texas A&M stu
dents.
Located in the basement of the
YMCA building, the PCS is open
Monday through Friday and is
provided free to students. Ap
pointments can be made by calling
845-4427 or just dropping by the
office.
The service deals in several
main areas of counseling:
personal-social, marriage and fam
ily, human sexuality, group and
career counseling.
Staffed by eight full-time
licensed personnel and 50
graduate students, the Educational
Psychology Department, located in
M. T. Harrington, Room 701, also
sponsors a counseling service that
is open to both students and non
students.
Dr. Lannes Hope, professor of
Educational Psychology and one of
the full-time personnel, said the
service is used for training pur
poses.
Sessions are video-taped for in
structional purposes, but only with
permission. The tapes are erased
after being reviewed in order that
they maybe used again.
A person should not make any
changes in his lifestyle while he is
being counseled. Hope said if a
man begins counseling and gets a
divorce in the same week, he won’t
be able to tell which made the dif
ference.
Another service, the Academic
Counseling Center, is located in
Room 107 of the Academic Build
ing. The center’s exists to assist
students having problems or con
cerns about their academic or
career development.
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