By Cody Daniels/reporter
Students should know two things about Anxiety and Depression, a TCC counselor said March 21.
Forty-five percent of college-age people (18-24) suffer from some type of depressive illness. Suicide has recently become the leading cause of death among this age group.
Mike Eason said depression and anxiety can affect one’s health through chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters that affect motivation and gave tips on finding help or treatment.
“Step one should be to speak to a counselor, which TCC offers free for students,” he said.
All TCC counselors are state-certified licensed professionals, Eason said, with the same credentials as private practice therapists.
“These counselors are legally confidential and offer many different types of emotional counseling such as crisis, trauma and career,” he said.
If every student suffering from depression from among the 50,000 enrolled at TCC took the first step of getting help by seeing a counselor, he said, a significant number of lives might be saved.
“Seminars like these, by putting the information out there and offering easy help and coping strategies, can act like interventions to students who have been suffering and are afraid to get help,” Eason said after the event. “As a matter of fact, two students after today’s program informed me they would be visiting to start treatment, and this is what saves lives.”
From the first step, the counseling phase, Eason said students might be referred to psychiatrists who can diagnose chemical imbalances in the brain and prescribe helpful medication, if needed.
Eason said cognitive counseling, counseling for developing coping skills and the learning of coping skills will do no good unless any chemical imbalance is first treated.
The presentation also included visual aids via three large HDTV monitors. Eason said he does this because people are visual learners. Attendees received a packet of tips and descriptions of treatment plans for different illnesses.
Seeking help before depression or anxiety disorders turn into a suicide or a severe case of drug addiction is the most important thing to remember, Eason said.
“Cases of these illnesses are rising, and every individual student suffering should seek help,” he said. “All treatments are as unique as the individual is.”
