My name is Dorothy “Allison” Camp and I am in my final semester of the Mental Health and Wellness Counseling Program here at ASU (wahoo)! I am 27 years old and live in Dallas, TX. I did my undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina. I am currently in the College Counseling Office as an Associate at a private/independent school with goals to move up into an Associate Director or Director role at my current school. I am also the Varsity Volleyball Assistant Coach at the school and coach club volleyball as well. As an Assistant Director/Director of College Counseling at a high school, learning about dysfunctional behavior will be helpful because there is a fine line of what students share with us in our office as a form of self-reflection necessary to go through the college research/application process successfully, and what we must refer to the school counselor. In addition, understanding potential dysfunctional behaviors in students will help me as a college counselor to advise them on what to share about themselves in their college essays and also would help me share more about them in my counselor letter. Understanding potential dysfunctional behaviors could also help me be a better volleyball coach by seeing warning signs of mental illness in athletes that is on the rise nationally. 

After reviewing some data and statistics from the CDC website, I am actually surprised to know that only 9.4% of children are diagnosed with anxiety and 4.4% are diagnosed with depression (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). After reviewing data and statistics from the school I work at, this number seems surprisingly low as the percentage of our student body who deals with these struggles are much higher unfortunately. I was also interested in the ratio, specifically in Texas, of the Rates of Mental and Behavioral Health Service Providers by County in 2015. Interestingly, licensed social workers lead the charge in Dallas County with 10.1 per 10,000 children in the county under the age of 17, then psychologists with 8.7 per 10,000, family medicine physicians with 7.8, and falling behind were pediatricians with 5.9 and psychiatrists with 3.6 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a). 

Working in a school, I have a few years of experience working with students who have diagnosed (and undiagnosed but self-proclaimed) anxiety, depression, and ADHD. The school I work at is incredibly academically rigorous and holds students to an incredibly high standard - so our office has become a safe place for students to openly share about the challenges they face and their daily struggles while we help them sort it all into useful self-reflection that will lead towards authentic college matches. Helping students articulate their mental health struggles in college essays and applications is a huge part of my job, so I feel confident in the basic understandings of these disorders and my ability to help students reflect and continue moving forward. In terms of stigmas around these behaviors, I have two very different answers. In general and nationally, I certainly think there are negative connotations and stigmas surrounding mental illness and behavioral disorders by people who do not understand them or have never experienced or lived them closely. However, at the school I work at specifically, these behaviors have almost become the “norm” and what is expected. The words “anxious” and “depressed” are tossed around so freely and seemingly as a way for students to prove themselves and how hard they are working. As an adult, this is incredibly interesting but also unnerving to watch play out, as I know how serious true anxiety and depression are.

References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022a, April 19). Behavioral health services in Texas | CDC. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/stateprofiles-providers/texas/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 3). Data and Statistics on Children’s Mental Health | CDC. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html