SCHIZOPHRENIA AND THE COLLEGE STUDENT Introduct

The American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV, 1994) states that a diagnosis of schizophrenia is appropriate when a person suffers from delusions, auditory hallucinations, or marked disturbances in thinking, affect, or speech are shown by an individual. The person must also have deteriorated from a previous level of functioning concerning work, interpersonal relationships, self-care, and the like.

Further, the disorder must have been present for at least six months at some point in the individual's life as well as having been present for at least one month at the time of diagnosis. Finally, organic mental disorders and affective disorders must be ruled out as causes of the symptoms.

Schizophrenia has received a great deal of research attention, primarily because its lifetime prevalence rate in America is about one percent; thus, it affects millions of people directly---occurring at about equal rates among men and women (Bourdon, 1992). According to Sue, Sue and Sue (1994), schizophrenia can occur to people in all walks of life and all socioeconomic strata. The purpose of this paper is to explore the occurrence of the condition in the college population and the response of college mental health services to the problem.

Research on Schizophrenia in the College Population

It seems reasonable to suppose that designing and implementing appropriate mental health programs for college students with schizophrenia mus

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both identification of cases and description of the population at risk. Variables that affect prevalence include sex, age, and class level. It is concluded that increasing knowledge of... prevalence and incidence [of emotional disorders]...among college students requires methodological sophistication that may not be widely possessed by concerned professionals. (p. 681) Possibly because of the lack of knowledge concerning incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia, the general response of college health services to students suffering from the condition varies widely from institution to institution (Karon, 1990). Blai (1982) reports that in some cases students with schizophrenia and other psychoses are treated on an outpatient basis by many large hospital-based colleges. However, not all institutions are able to offer comprehensive mental health services. Smaller universities, for example, are said to be unable to handle most severe psychological disturbances. Blai (1982) reports, that the scope of the mental health treatment offered at the smaller universities is adequate only in helping students who are overly stressed as a result of their college experience. Such assistance is said to amount of advising students to en
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Approximate Word count = 1578
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)