Active Minds educates students

A new organization called Active Minds was brought to Tech campus over the summer. Active Minds is a national, non-profit organization made for the distribution of resources and awareness for mental health in the college environment. The Tech chapter is among over seventy different locations across America.

While some people may wonder why Tech, a school known for its intellectual prestige, would need a group that provides tools to deal with mental health issues, many would also be surprised to know that six percent of the population (1 in 17), has a serious mental disorder and that one in four people is at least diagnosable for all types of mental illnesses, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). It is to no one's astonishment that the president of Tech's Active Minds chapter, second-year Biology major Christina Graves, finds the situation to be detrimental, and is concerned about how few people have any real knowledge about mental health.

"One of the biggest things is that there's such a stigma around mental health," Graves said, when asked about the purpose for the group. According to the national Active Minds website (www.activemindsoncampus.org), this occurs because people 18 to 24 years of age, the typical age for university-level students, show the most prevalence for being diagnosed with the disease. "People just haven't been exposed [to mental health data]...people don't know," Graves said.

Active Minds was started in 2001 by a University of Pennsylvania freshman named Allison Malmon. She began the organization with the name "Open Minds" following the death of her brother and the realization of how little people know about mental disorders. Soon after, Kate Hood started a group called "Active Minds," and both eventually came together to form Active Minds, Inc. in 2003.

Ever since then, the organization has spread to various parts of the country to inform people of the reality of the situation. "Society has a lot of misconceptions," Graves said. Indeed-according to Active Minds, Inc., "University counseling centers are overwhelmed by the combination of high demand and constrained budgets, and many have had to cut their outreach programs."

In a college environment, students find themselves constantly burdened by the strenuous amount of work, and these students can quickly become disaffected by that. This fact may be more prevalent around women, according to Graves.

"Judging by an evaluation of my peers, there seems to be a push to be well-rounded among women," Graves said. This circumstance is particularly dangerous since NIMH has found that women are more likely to develop major depressive disorders than men.

Another issue that exacerbates the condition is that while some people feel open about mental illnesses, many more either hide their own or do not fully appreciate the gravity of having one. Bottling emotions and thoughts of serious disorders can lead to chronic disability, and in extreme cases suicide, which is responsible for nearly 32,500 deaths in the U.S. alone and the second leading cause of death among college students.

In terms that Tech students can grasp, the Institute, standing at about 10,000 undergraduates, will lose one student among them to suicide this year, according to NIMH. Active Minds has promoted the counseling and treatment of such illnesses, especially because the organizations know what ends people meet if they are not helped. However, treatment may only stop at the symptoms.

"The unfortunate truth is that mental illnesses can't be cured...only the outward symptons may be cured," Graves said. While therapy does commit an essential amount of help, it alone cannot "cure" the illness. That is why it is so important that people understand and have not only empathy but also practical knowledge.

Graves has obviously found a major stigma and has endeavored to make others aware that people with mental disorders are perfectly productive members of society.The resources available from Active Minds educate people both with and without disorders, so that everyone on campus can understand better for the future.

Though Active Minds is a campus-based organization, Graves realizes that the problem is definitely nationwide.

"While we may not directly be influencing the workplace, Tech is a very work-oriented university...people who [are] educated here will practice not only their curriculum but [also] many of the things they learned outside of class," Graves said.

Graves knows that the priority of Active Minds is not to call out institutions for what they do wrong in contributing to the severity of mental health, but rather what they can do right.

Offering resources via a screening later this fall, students may find answers to problems they have. Already alcoholism, eating disorders and depression have online screenings available to everyone all year.

The screening will not diagnose a disorder, but will help students in a completely confidential and anonymous method. Throughout the year there will also be popular film screenings for the education of these illnesses.

Active Minds is already reaching out to many at a startling rate, but needs the participation of anyone in the campus, not only students affected by illness.

Graves and Active Minds are pushing forward in not only awareness, but also help, so that people will be able to overcome whatever they may be hiding. "People shouldn't be afraid," Graves said. With Active Minds available for all, people do not need to be.

For more information, visit the website of NIMH at www.nimh.nih.gov, find the Active Minds at Tech Facebook group or contact Christina Graves at cgraves3@mail.gatech.edu.