Nowadays, the educational community had significantly broadened in the USA when all segregated institutions were banned. Since that time, lots of progressive new steps have been taken at many levels. Now every American has access to education, but still, some people are being stigmatized during their studies. For example, students who have psychiatric disabilities i.e., with mental impairments, may have difficulties in their educational process. A psychiatric disability may strongly worsen the quality of life. There’s a difference between mental illness and a psychiatric disability. While some mental illnesses may have no symptoms and sometimes don’t interfere with a student’s educational goals, a psychiatric disability will be a hindrance for sure.
Sadly, the number of students reported with psychiatric disabilities is growing. Almost 10% of students in the US in 2011 have been reported to have a psychiatric disability of some kind. In 2016 almost 40% of American students had been reported to have at least one mental illness, and 8% of them attempted to commit suicide. Such students need urgent help. In this article, you will find a lot of useful information on how to make a student with a psychiatric disability feel better in college with DoMyWriting.
Main types of psychiatric disabilities
Almost 20% of adult Americans are reported to have at least some forms of mental illness. The number of students with mental impairments is growing. The growth of social pressure, stress, and other reasons provoke the appearance of new types of mental illnesses.
There are several types of most frequent psychiatric disabilities among American college students that we are going to dwell upon in this article.
This type of psychiatric disability arises from the social pressure that society places upon overweight people. They start dieting and jeopardize their health. In many cases, such students get depressed and their health ruins. Often an eating disorder may be a result of unsettling circumstances.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
This condition is caused by minor changes in a student’s mind which influence the communicative abilities. For such students, it’s hard to work in a team or deliver reports on a topic.
For students having schizophrenia, it’s impossible to interpret events normally. Such people can make wrong decisions or even commit crimes.
Different traumatic events may be the reason for such symptoms as panic attacks, flashes of fear, or insecurity. This disorder is widely spread in the US.
Sometimes it’s difficult to diagnose depression. The causes of it may be traumatic events or conflicts, and it’s considered one of the main determinants leading to suicide.
This condition is characterized by frequent mood swings. The nervous system of such students is damaged, which may lead to self-harming.
Substance abuse disorders
Taking alcohol or drugs is a frequent problem for American students. This leads to fits of rage, depression, etc.
Students with mental impairments in colleges
Students with mental impairments need help in the process of their education. There are several essential measures colleges can take to help such students.
- One of the most significant steps is to be able to provide professional psychological assistance. A student should know that there’s always someone to talk to.
- Informing students on mental health issues is significant.
- In every college, there should be a list of students with psychiatric disabilities to provide them with necessary assistance.
How to fight stress in college
Below there are several essential recommendations for you to deal with stress successfully.
- Sleep well. Students might often have sleepless nights, and that may drastically worsen their emotional and mental well-being.
- Eat healthy food according to your personal schedule.
- Get active. Exercises help to stay fit.
- Don’t drink energetic drinks; rest enough to get energy naturally.
- Maintain a correct balance between work and personal life. Communicate and pursue your hobbies; it will help you to stay calm and in good spirits.
If your friend or a student has a psychiatric disability
In this part of the article, you will find essential information if you want to help your friend or student (in case you are a teacher) with a psychiatric disability. To help such people is important, but you have to have practical knowledge and skills to make that person feel at ease and relaxed.
- If you feel that such students need a more thorough explanation of the assignment, provide them with it.
- They might need a longer time for submitting their assignments, extend the deadlines for them.
- If verbal assignments are too difficult for them, give them written assignments.
- They might need an additional break in the middle of the lesson, and it might be better to organize a special seating for them.
There may be more recommendations on how to help students with various mental impairments. If you want to give such a student a helping hand, you have to know what type of psychiatric condition this student suffers from.
American organizations that help students with mental disabilities
- K9 Reading Buddies. If you want to beat depression, anxiety, problems in communication, there are a lot of different methods. Some of them are quite unexpected, such as canine reading therapy. There are students who have difficulties with reading, and reading to a dog may help them overcome their psychological barriers.
- 320 Change Direction. This organization was founded by Talinda Bennington, who was Chester Bennington’s wife. She wants to help people with mental health problems, raise awareness about the necessity of helping them.
- Taking drugs can cause a lot of psychiatric disabilities. The goal of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is to talk about students overtaking drugs, especially on campuses.
- A lack of good communication can become the reason. Bring Change to Mind was set up to underline the significance of the problem.
- Mostly widespread mental disabilities in students are depression and anxiety. The growing number of people suffering from these psychiatric conditions bothers health specialists. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America aims to help people of different ages who suffer from depression.
- Child Trauma. This group works to prevent children from physical and mental traumas.
Our modern life can bring a lot of stress and be reckless at times. For a person with a psychiatric disability, it may be difficult to cope with all these challenges. It’s significant for such persons to get help and care from people around them. In the US, there are colleges and organizations which help mentally impaired students to obtain education and to socialize into society. Such people should live with dignity, and society should help them. To get an education is an inalienable right for such students and there should be proper conditions for them in higher educational institutions (such as colleges, universities, and professional schools).