Colleges Cut Parents Out of the Loop on Students' Mental Health

April 19, 2007 — -- The 32 victims of the Virginia Tech massacre have become a point of grim fascination, but the gunman was far from the only college student suffering from a serious mental illness.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, nearly half of all college students report feeling so depressed at some point that they have trouble functioning.

This is unchartered territory for universities and parents, many of whom are unaware that if their child becomes mentally ill while away at college, they can be kept out of the loop.

Seven years ago, Alison Malmon received news that changed her life forever: Her older brother Brian had committed suicide.

"My brother was a typical successful college student, who was able to maintain a 3.8 GPA. He became sports editor and columnist for the school newspaper. … He had dreams and aspirations. He wanted to go to law school," she said. "He didn't want to acknowledge that something was wrong."

But something was very wrong. During his freshman year at Columbia University, Brian started experiencing symptoms of depression and over the next few years continued to suffer in his own private hell.

"His friends noticed changes in him but didn't say anything to him. They didn't know what to say," Alison said.

Finally in his senior year, Brian took a voluntary leave of absence and headed home to begin treatment, but it wasn't enough. A year and half later, he took his own life.

Alison was determined to make something good come out of such a tragedy. From her determination came Active Minds, a national nonprofit organization that Alison, now the executive director, created. It is dedicated to raising mental health awareness on campuses through peer programs.

"Students themselves are not being educated from the beginning," she said. "Students are the main line of defense, and they're living with each other as roommates, they're in the same hall, on the same sports team, eating in the same cafeteria. They see signs much more quickly than any faculty or staff."