I think that is probably true, Elizabeth. The thing is, now that parents and students know to ask-- most colleges are CLAIMING that they offer such benefits. Most point to shiny new "centers" for students (though they may fail to note things like "an appointment takes just minutes to MAKE... but might be seven weeks away..." or that "this isn't really an office that is staffed full time" or that "this service is only for student athletes," etc.) but that just muddies the waters.
So sure; most campuses are aware that they have a problem in this regard and have appointed administrators to handle it. With predictable results...
They don't. If anything, there seems to have been a dramatic shift toward pharmacology and one or two "counseling" appointments as your limit. Beyond that and you need to go outside the university-- and they don't seem to know how to do a referral. It's puzzling to me.
DD has expressed tremendous frustration-- she frankly thinks that the two professionals that she has been dealing with are borderline in terms of basic competence to start with (and so do we, given what she was initially "diagnosed" with) and they have been more interested in poking and prodding at her as an interesting laboratory specimen than in HELPING her. She's tried asking for "tools" or "things to try" etc. to manage her anxiety-- to no avail.
She is six weeks into "getting help through the university" after a major Hail Mary effort last term that involved me going with her, and a professor petitioning the registrar for a late course withdrawal, etc.
She's a student with a disability already, and has pointed out to the mental health professionals that there is known comorbidity with it and anxiety disorders (which seems like news to them-- yikes)-- so why are these people not communicating with that office? I have no idea.
The one psychiatrist has apparently never done any work with a student who has perfectionism like DD's. It was news to this person that such perfectionism could result in anxiety disorders, or that it might be connected in some way to her underlying disabling condition. The clinician wants to see DD for a third "diagnostic" appointment in ANOTHER two weeks (this makes it 8 since she requested the appointment after being referred by the on-campus counseling center). This clinician is "going to request* some literature" and "read about" the possibility of a connection (the one that DD pointed out to her that research supports) in the mean time.
It was also news that DD might have suicidal ideation without being depressed. Like-- at all. When asked if she had thoughts about it, she answered in the affirmative (and by the way-- a fair number of excellent clinicians WILL NOT WORK WITH such adolescents-- period) and when asked if she had a plan, she retorted (truthfully) that she hardly needs more than a buck in her wallet and the nearest vending machine-- does that count as "planning" in this context? Because there's no bright line when you have DD's disabling condition. It's a lot easier to attempt suicide than to do all that you need to do to ensure your survival day to day. KWIM? Again-- news to the doc. (Maddening.)
They seem VERY interested in the fact that she had relatively few friends and was educated at home as a child. Initially, DD found this mildly amusing, but now it is just ticking her off that they won't listen to her.
* when DD told me about this, I confess that I rather snidely asked if she offered to show the doc how PubMed works.
