SHAC: Come get your head checked

UNM Student Health and Counseling is offering free mental health screenings today.

Mental health professionals will screen students for depression and related illnesses such as bipolar and
eating disorders, generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

UNM student Melanie Buck, who attended the event in 2007, said the screening helped her pinpoint and address issues related to the deaths of loved ones.

“Mental health is very important for succeeding in life,” she said. “If you are not OK with yourself, how you can expect to be OK with everything else?”

Project coordinator Stacy Lowe said the screening is not a substitute for an evaluation, but it helps students learn if they have symptoms consistent with major mental health disorders.

“The goal of the screening is to increase students’ awareness of mental health issues,” she said.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health website, mental disorders are common in the United States. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a mental disorder every year, and many suffer from more than one mental disorder, according to the website.

A study conducted by the World Health Organization, the World Bank and Harvard University said mental illnesses account for more than 15 percent of all diseases in developed nations.

SHAC Director Harry Linneman said many disorders on campus are school-related, and that depression, anxiety and relationship-related stress predominantly affects students. He said that mental health directors on campuses across the nation have pushed for more screening services.

“Campuses have been looking at doing them more often because they tend to help identify students who clearly need counseling services, but haven’t yet sought them out on their own,” Linneman said.

Students will complete written self-assessments and meet one-on-one with a mental health professional. Professionals will refer students who appear to need further evaluations to local treatment services.

SHAC’s free mental health screening is part of National Depression Screening Day held annually during Mental Illness Awareness Week.