PAGE EIGHT
Student
u. Jr.
By Mel Ziegler
Contributing Editor
Late in the afternoon of Octo
ber 4th a seventh term mathematics
student walked into the kitchen of
his Barnard Street apartment and
with a .22 calibre rifle shot himself
in the head. At 10 p.m. that evening
he was pronounced dead by doctors
at the Centre County Hospital.
He had made The Irreversible
Decision, a decision which a Uni
versity psychiatrist once said comes
only “when the fear of living be
comes greater than the fear of
dying ”
\
He was not the first student to
take his own life on this campus.
There were several before him. In
fact, since 1962 alone four other
students found suicide the only way
out of life’s maze:
• Fifteen minutes after cur
few on a Saturday night in late
September, 1962 a fourth-term coed
plunged to her death from the sun
deck of an East Halls dormitory.
• Two months later a junior
in secondary education broke his
way through a transom on the
eighth floor of his Pollock dormi
tory and made the fatal 75-foot
jump to the ground.
• The following spring, a
local science student, who was not
enrolled for the new term at the
University, shot himself in the
head.
• And, in late May of the same
year a 12th term aerospace engi
neering senior was found at 8 a.m.
after hanging all night from a
clothes closet bar in his dormitory
room.
Despite the shocking effect of
such incidents, the suicide rate at
the University is considerably low
er than on other campuses across
the country. A recent study at the
University of California at Berk
eley, for instance, revealed that one
in every 5,000 of its students com
mits suicide.
A Look Magazine correspon
dent, doing research at the Univer
sity for a future article, told a local
authority that Penn State, had the
second lowest suicide rate of the
nearly 20 colleges she had visited.
Dr. Hugh B. Urban, therapy
coordinator for The Division of
Counseling at the University, esti
mates that if Penn State students
were to match' the Harvard suicide
rate, there would have been 24 self
inflicted deaths at the University
since 1960. There have been five.
A study in the October issue of
Moderator, a magazine for leading
students, predicted that 1,000 col
lege students will kill themselves
this year. Since college enrollment
across the nation currently stands
at six and one half million, this
means that one in every 6,500 stu
dents will commit suicide. But even
at this rate, Penn State is far below
the national norm.
Why. Few Suicides?
Why the low number of sui
cides here? University Psychiatrist
Dr. Albert M. Ingram Jr. believes
the isolation and rural nature of the
University create an environment
more favorable to, emotional sta
bility. Dr. Ingram suggests “we
don’t get the same kind of sophisti
cation here that they do at Colum
bia or New York University.” He is
referring to the larger number of
rural students who attend the Uni
versity (the Admissions Office has a
10 per cent quota for out-of-slate
students) compared to the. type of
student attracted by the city cam
pus. Dr. Urban calls this “the selec
tive factor,” the phenomena by
DR. ALBERT M. INGRAM: "Students are
reacting beautifully to academic .pres
sures, with more stability than one
could ever predict." • ' i
which different kinds of students
select different kinds of univer
sities.
Most important, however, are
the services available to assist emo
tionally unstable students. Investi
gations of all known campus sui
cides, in the last two decades have
disclosed that no student who had
sought professional help had sub
sequently destroyed himself-
To be sure, several have tried.
The Moderator article speculates
that for every successful suicide
nine will threaten- to kill them
selves, and one in 10 of these will
actually attempt to do so. Dr.
Richard M. Lundy, director of the
University Psychological Clinic, es
timates that, between five and 10
students attempt suicide annually.
Many of these students, of course,
have no real intention of killing
themselves, but as Dr. Lundy said,
they “just attempt suicide to get
others to do things for them.” Still,
he maintains, “attempted suicides
are a very serious problem, because
they show that the patient’is inter
ested in this way to solve his prob
lems.” Students who try to take
their own lives are almost routinely
committed to the Health Center.
The more severe cases are removed
from the University altogether and
placed in a hospital. “Usually we
are able to talk to them so that
they’ll re-evaluate, their suicide at
tempt,” Dr, Lundy said.
Nonetheless, students at many
universities have virtually nobody
to talk to. As of 1963 only 76‘col
leges had professional clinical facil
ities for emotionally unbalanced
students. And as recently as 1955;
the psychiatric staff at Harvard,
renowned as an enlightened univer
sity, consisted of one man. The
Moderator study uncovered the fact
that professional services to emo
tionally disturbed students are
downright inadequate at most uni
versities. This is unfortunate,
thinks Dr. Urban, who says he be
lieves there is a “higher proportion
of suicides on those campuses
where there are no services avail
able.”
University Services
But the story at Penn State is
quite different. Owing largely to a
young psychologist named Robert
G. Bernreuter who came to the Uni
versity in the 1930’5, Penn Slate en
gineered a complex web of profes
sional services that many other
universities today are duplicating.
Currently, Penn State staffs one
professional counselor lor approxi
mately every 1,000 students at a
cost of about $17.50 per student per
year (which also includes medical
care). Not bad, when, according to.
Dr Urban, “some students are get
ting more than $3,000 worth of free
services” from professionals who
would otherwise demand inflated
fees. j
. At the apex of the University’s
pyramid of services is the Mental
Hygiene Clinic, consisting of .two
staff psychiatrists.. Next come the
Division of Counseling and the Psy
chological Clinic, which together
employ over 20 PhD. psychologists.
And thebase of the pyramid is well
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
Suicides:
covered by an all-encompassing net
of religious affairs advisers, resi
dence hall counselors, the Speech
and Hearing Clinic, registered doc
tors in the Health,Center, academic
advisers and staff merpbers of the
Dean of Men’s and Dean of Wo
men's offices.
Although reports indicate the
University is seeking funds to add
another psychiatrist, the fact re
mains that the present variety of
services is superb. “If there is any
problem at all,” Dr. Lundy claims,
'“it is in communicating to students
that these facilities are available.”
He contends that most students are
not aware of the extensive campus
mental health' services.
Dr. Jefferson D. Ashby, acting
director of DOC, noted the inter-
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. . . academic stress has been
the perpetual stand-by excuse
for all that goes wrong
in a campus atmosphere . . .
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relationship of, all agencies design-:
ed to help students with emotional
problems and made a point of how
well they all work together.
As an example, he said if a
psychologist determined that mon
ey problems were the source of a
student’s emotional stress, the Of
fice of Student Aid could cooperate
fully in offering its resources to the
student.
Highly Confidential
The usual procedure for a stu
dent seeking professional assistance
is to contact psychologists in either
the Division of Counseling or the
Psychological Clinic. Then, if his
problem is extreme, he is referred
to one of the University psychia
trists for more intensive psycho
therapy. All records of such inter
views are regarded as highly confi
DR. JEFFERSON ASHBY: "We have a
vigorous group of individuals up here.
I disagree with those who say we are
mentally unhealthy."
dential and are not accessible to
other agencies of the University—
the Administration and all other
sources—unless the student ap
proves their release. No mention of
them will appear on the student’s
personal' record with the Univer
sity.
Often, however, students are
apprehensive about seeking out
such professional help for fear that
it will stain their record. This is not
possible. Psychiatric records are
locked safely in 208 Health Center
and not even the doctors on the
Ritenour staff may consult them.
Furthermore, all records are com
pletely destroyed a few years after
the student graduates, and they are
only held that long for the student’s
own convenience and welfare.
The University also makes an
elaborate effort to detect emotion
ally vulnerable students’ even be
fore they register. A series of tests
and personal interviews conducted
by DOC give the University psy
chologists an early hint of a stu
dent’s emotional problems. Dr. Ash
by indicated that DOC, upon re
viewing such data, will often “fol
low up” with these initial contacts
as soon as the student arrives on
campus.
“If we think a student needs
help,” Ashby said, “we get in touch
with him and invite him into con
ference.” A recent suicide victim
had been invited to such a confer
ence, but turned down DOC’s ges
ture. Ashby said that residence hall
counselors in the various dormi
tories are also alerted to be aware
of students who might show need
for professional assistance.
DR. RICHARD M. lUNDY: "If there is
any problem at all, it is communicating
to students that these facilities are
available." ‘ j .
—Collegian Photomontage by John Lott and Mike Urban
Still, a good many students who
do need help, and are not detected,
never seek it out. Moderator esti
mates that between 10 and 15 per
cent of the nation’s students have
emptional problems serious enough
to Warrant professional help. Al
though University psychologists
generally disclaim these figures,
they still feel, as Dr. Urban indi
cated, that a “respectable number
of students do need help* but are
not getting it.”
.Nonetheless, Dr. Ashby pro
claims, “we have a vigorous group
of individuals up here. I disagree
with those (like Moderator) who
say we are mentally unhealthy.” He
specified that the excellent re
sources of a college population puts
it well above the average sample in
mental health. Nevertheless, psy
chiatrists report that college sui
cides are 50 per cent higher than
suicides of non-students of the same
age and all Americans in general.
The study at Berkeley even found
suicide the number two killer cf
college students, second only to
accidents. Of coure, as Dr, Lundy
pointed out, “there’s nothing else to
kill them.” Then again, 'Lundy con
tinues, “everyone really can benefit
from talking about their problems
—no one is in perfect psychological
health”
Apparent Problem
However, contentions that ser
ious mental illness is a. wide spread
campus problem disturb nearly all
of the major University authorities.
Dr. Ingram, for example, said “the
problem (at Penn State) is apparent
rather than real . . . and there’s
been no increase in emotional prob
lems.” Statistics would seem to re
fute him, with nearly 1,200 students
annually receiving professional
help at various campus agencies.
The Psychological Clinic handles
approximately 100 student cases a
year, the Mental Hygiene Clinic
around '4OO, and DOC (excluding
academic and\ vocational guidance)
an estimated 700 students annually.
Yet these figures only add up to
5 per cent of the registered student
body. Furthermore, although the
number of students who consulted
DOC psychologists for their emo
tional problems climbed from 25
when this part of the- clinic was
first opened in 1961 to the current
figure of 700, psychologists are
quick to point out that this does
not reflect an increase in emo
tional stress. The fact is there are
many more students on campus and
the DOC facilities are much more
widely' known.
Still, a good sized segment of
~the student body has serious emo
tional difficulties. But what (dis
tinguishes their problems from the
average student? ... Actually, .the
problems of a potential suicide are
not .essentially different from the
, problems of an average student. Dr.
Ingrain observes that “we all'be
come discourage, despondent and
• depressed but most of us are
resilient enough to bounce back.”
In most cases, the problems are
just common and everydayish. The
difference is that the mental oa-
tient and potential suicide victim"
becomes overwhelmed with these
problems. And it’s when a student
Penn State Below
National Average
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER,26, 1966
doesn’t bounce back that he com
mits suicide. One coed always car
ried an instrument with her to kill
herself. She wanted the security of
knowing that if she ever became
overwhelmed by her problems, she
could take her own life. Dr. In
grams says the final step is usually
taken "because of guilt, anger, self
pity or the desire to hurt another
person.”
Dr. Ashby points out that many
of the student’s problems are highly
normal and legitimate, considering
that the student is in his late ado
lesence. “Most students are able to
make the necessary adjustments,,
with a reasonable amount of effi
ciency,” he said, while others can
not. Two students, for example,
may react quite differently to being
jilted by a girl. While one may
suffer a complete breakdown and
contemplate suicide, the other will
adjust and go out once again to
play the field. “In different individ
uals,” he said, “there are different
levels of response.”
Academic Pressures
The problems that plague stu
dents cover the whole range of
human difficulties. From simple
homesickness to severe depression,
from interpersonal conflicts to
heterosexual difficulties, from
chronic anxieties to sexual adjust
ment, these are the problems which
lead students to take their own
lives, according to authorities at the
University. Conspicuously absent:
academic pressure..
According to the Moderator
study, however, the "pressure cook
er” atmosphere on* the modern
campus is a leading contributor to
student suicides. Academic stress
has been the perpetual stand-by
excuse for all that goes wrong in a
campus atmosphere. But Dr. Urban,
speaking of his experiences with
University suicides, disagrees: “In
no instance has there been any rela
tionship between academic' pres
sures and campus suicides. People
don’t ordinarily get suicidal over
the fact that they’re not doing well
academically.” Dr. Ingram con
tends, in fact, that “students are
reacting beautifully to academic
pressures, with more stability than
one could even predict."
Anxiety, as Dr. Ingram views
it, is the main contributing factor
to emotional stress on campus. This
anxiety usually concerns the op
posite sex, parents, money, studies
and career problems. Often it can
immobilize a person so that he can
not function effectively in his daily
life. In one instance, a student could
not keep from looking at women’s
legs. Wherever he went, whatever
he was doing, he had an obsessive
.compulsion to stare at women’s
legs. His own self-consciousness
brought him a feeling of guilt and
he came to think of himself as a
pervert, eventually nearly immo
bilizing himself.
Dr. Lundy feels that the chief
reason for a college suicide is that
a student finds himself “unworthy
and inadequate,” but he too em
phasized that students “are not sui
ciding for anything relating to the
college atmosphere.” In some cases,
he said, people suicide because they
feel “other people don’t seem to
realize what pain and anguish they
are in.”
Dr. Urban, said suicide takes
place when a person reaches the
conclusion that there is nobody he
can turn to for help, and if there
are people, they can’t help.
No matter why, the facts re
main: Penn State has a low inci
dence of suicide relative to the na
tional average, owing greatly to an
excellent network of professional
services, and for the suicides we do
have, the old stand-by of academic
pressure doesn’t measure up as a
valid factor, according to our Uni
versity psychologists.
.instance
any relationship be
pressures and campus
has there been
tween academic
suicides."