St. Bonaventure students and counselors dicuss causes, symptoms and treatments of college depression

 ST. BONAVENTURE (Mar. 27) – Ashley Bynum wipes away her tears as she calls her sister in New York City after feeling left out and abandoned by her peers at St. Bonaventure University campus.

             As students watch their families depart the college parking lot, they say that college is a new beginning and they realize they’re on their own for the first time.

            Students say going to college and being in a new environment can be the great experience they have hoped for. However, some students say it has become the opposite. Symptoms of depression can happen to students with the change in environment and social life around them, counselors say.

“One factor is if people come into this kind of environment from home and they do not connect with other people meaningfully, it can lead to depression,” says Michele Rodkey, a counselor at Bonaventure’s Counseling Center.

            “Back home I had a lot of friends, but after coming to Bonaventure I had a hard time coping with the change and making meaningful relationships with people,” says Bynum. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, but when I tried, I was turned off by people, my best friend and I were not invited out or I was isolated.”

             “I almost want to say 100 percent of my students that come in usually have some kind of depressive symptoms or declare themselves as feeling  that way when they come to see us,” says Rodkey. “I certainly think that is number-one problem we see people for.”

Isolation or depression can vary in degree and affect people differently, counselors say.

“It can run from a mild feeling of I don’t enjoy what I used to enjoy, I am tired all the time and I have trouble concentrating,” says Rodkey.

Emily Costello, a freshman undeclared science major, would want to be alone and lock herself her room before attending Bonaventure when she felt depressed and isolated.

“I wanted to be alone and stay to myself,” says Costello. “I just wanted time to think to myself and organize my thoughts.”

Luckily for Costello, she did activities that made her happy like sitting and talking with friends, she says.

“I did things I love like horseback riding,” says Costello.

For some students, like Costello, coming into a new environment can have a good affect on the students by helping them to create healthy relationships and become happier.

            “I have been visiting friends at Bonaventure for years, but now that I live here I love it and I’ve never been happier,” says Costello.  “I love everything about living here like how small it is and how everyone knows everyone.”

Counselors advise students that are not adjusting well to surround themselves with friends.

“Try to become socially connected, talk to somebody like a best friend and engage in some type of physical activity,” says Rodkey.

Bynum, a junior political science major, joined the women’s rugby team where she made friends with teammates.

For some students, more serious cases of depression can lead to larger problems, say counselors.

 “Depression can be turned inward and when it’s turned inward it is frustration, it is anger and not very good impulse control,” says Rodkey.

Anger sprouted from depression can lead to abusive relationships, counselors say.

“Students that we have seen in fights or that get wasted and hit someone we see underlying depression and they’ve just been very sad or frustrated for a long time,” says Rodkey.

The affects of depression and resulting anger can have a different effect on women than men, counselors say.

“With women a lot of times the depression is what keeps them in unhealthy relationships. They don’t have the self-esteem and motivation or hope that they need to move away from somebody who may be an abusive partner,” says Rodkey.

With depression, levels of treatment depend on what symptoms you are experiencing and the severity, counselors say.

“I wouldn’t be in this field if I didn’t think that counseling and medication and some self-care stuff can vastly reduce symptoms of at least moderate and mild depression,” says Rodkey.

However, depression does not have to get to the point of medication or experiencing extreme symptoms before getting help, say counselors.

“Certainly it does not have to get to that point, I have many, many students who come in and recognize that they are not themselves and open to the idea or have even asked to be evaluated,” says Rodkey.

Counselors recommended activities for students who experienced early signs of depression but found themselves uncomfortable going to counseling.

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Sidebar

The St. Bonaventure University Counseling Center offers students counseling on a confidential basis.

The Counseling Center is located on the second floor of The Reilly Center in room 231 and opens at 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and closing times vary.

Call (716) 375-2310 to make an appointment or email the center at ccsbu@sbu.edu.