The Daily Lobo sat down with Harry Linneman, director of Counseling and Therapy Services, to talk about stress and anxiety associated with returning to school. Counseling and Therapy Services offers two free sessions to students who have not used the service before. Everything that is discussed with therapists is confidential. Call 277-2020 between 8 a.m. (9 a.m. on Tuesdays) and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to set up an appointment. The office is in the Student Health Center.
Daily Lobo: Does your office see an increase in the number of students coming in at the beginning of the semester?
Harry Linneman: We have a lot of students at the beginning of the semester. This is my first fall semester here. I didn't start until September last year, but I'm told, and by looking at last years data, it looks like we have more students coming in now than we did last year at this time. Usually, we get more new students coming in after four weeks or so of school. This summer, however, we were busy all summer long and that's not usual.
DL: What are some of the common reasons that people are coming to you guys?
HL: It runs the full spectrum of problems. Some of it is what you would obviously expect - school related stresses with classes and heavy loads and difficulty getting the work done. That's typically about anxiety and depression. Part of it is about substance abuse. We also see quite a few students with more severe problems. You know, major depressions that are long-standing, perhaps other mental illnesses, serious substance abuse problems, eating disorders that are quite severe.
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DL: Do you have any advice for students to reduce stress?
HL: Knowing what they could do and accepting that they're really going to do it. The problem with anxiety is it can be overwhelming. One of the things we stress is balance. Keeping your life balanced in terms of your exercise, watching your diet, watching your substance abuse and setting clear priorities for how to spend your time and what you have to do. All of those things can help with anxiety. They can't necessarily fix everything, and sometimes you need additional help, but all of those things can be helpful. I can't repeat too many times to students the importance of keeping up with their coursework and not putting it off. We have a lot of students coming in seeking help about test anxiety, and really it's about 'I'm not ready for this test' anxiety, as opposed to being anxious about taking the test per se. Here at UNM, a lot of our students are also employed off campus, often many hours, some of them virtually full time. So, there's a lot of different pulls on your time, and it's easy to start your semester by not dropping right into your work quickly.
