The chances that you’ve met someone with a mental illness are very high, whether you’re aware of it or not. According to statistics by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately one in five adults in the U.S. experience mental illness in a given year. That’s about 43.8 million people. So why is mental illness so hard to talk about if it’s so common?
To its credit, DU has done an above average job in providing resources, accommodations and accessibility for its mentally ill students. The Disability Services Program (DSP) is a great, all-encompassing program for students with any type of impairment, physical or mental.
The Learning Effectiveness Program (LEP) takes things one step further for those with learning disabilities, mental illnesses or anything that could impede one’s ability to learn and thrive at DU. As a student with physical and learning disabilities as well as mental illnesses, these programs have been extremely helpful and a relief to turn to when I need them. I meet with my LEP counselor weekly and we talk about how things are going as well as what I’m struggling with, and then we plan out my week on a calendar so that I can visualize everything that needs to be done. Of course, every student requires different accommodations and skills to help them do their best, but all of that is available and tailorable to each student.
My high school was not as accommodating, something that isn’t unusual within the public school system. I was constantly denied 504 Plan accommodations (for those of you who are unaware, Section 504 is a part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prevents discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Within the Department of Education, it requires that schools provide accommodations to physically and mentally disabled students) because my school claimed I was “too functional” since my grades were high.
Ignoring this extremely ableist view of what constitutes “functionality,” my performance in school was a symptom of my disabilities. My OCD and anxiety disorders constantly battled with my ADHD, so while I was compelled to be “perfect” and achieve high grades and succeed in school, I was unable to focus and, as a result, suffered from extreme concentration fatigue that led me to spend hours on assignments that would have taken any neurotypical student one fourth of the time.
But my school didn’t care about that; they didn’t even read the numerous letters and documents from my doctors and mental health professionals detailing why I needed accommodations. In their eyes, my disabilities were not explicitly visible, so they weren’t required to provide me with help. They didn’t want to go out of their way to accommodate me, especially if they could get away with not doing so.
The problem itself lies within a larger societal failing. With the current state of mental health care in this country, to receive any type of official institutional accommodations or government assistance, one must have appropriate documentation. In this regard I’ve actually been lucky—despite hospitalization, taking a year off from school, suicide attempts and much more, I’ve actually been officially diagnosed and have the paperwork to back it up. And that is where it gets difficult for most people; official psychiatric diagnoses and paperwork are extremely hard to get, much more so than the general public is aware. Many mentally ill people—especially teens and college students—cannot get any sort of help due to lack of diagnosis, which means they have no chance at all of receiving access to the programs I have here at DU. The reasons are endless: parents not believing their children or thinking treatment is necessary, not having insurance coverage or the money, having poor experiences with psychiatric care in the past, etc. Don’t believe me? I’ll walk you through the process.
Say you have depression. If you’re a minor, how do you tell your parents? If you told them, will they believe you? If they believe you, are they on board with getting you psychiatric help? How will you pay for treatment or possible medications? Do you have insurance? Does your insurance cover treatment? If you’re going to try medication, you’re going to have to wait a couple months to see if it helps or not. If it does, you’re lucky. If it doesn’t, repeat the previous step with however many medications it takes before you find one that works for you. All of this doesn’t even address the possibility of having a bad psychiatrist—which is a very real and likely possibility. Whether they treat you badly, blame you, treat you like a child, prescribe you unnecessary meds, force you into hospitalization or just aren’t the right match for you, you’re most likely stuck with them if you’re a minor. The process is extremely grueling and goes on and on, and this doesn’t even touch on including official documentation that many schools require.
Official diagnostic psychiatric testing—where patients go through tests with a professional who then writes a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation detailing the patient’s diagnoses and what they need most to succeed in everyday life, as well as analyzing their personality, IQ, family, social life, etc.—can cost thousands of dollars and most often is not covered by insurance. If you can find a place to have it done that is covered by insurance, there is often a long wait list that is usually several months to a year in time. This is assuming you have gone through the previous steps of just addressing the existence of your mental illness and getting help.
While DU is doing a very good job of accommodating its mentally ill students, many are still left out, lacking the help and attention that they deserve and need. This isn’t entirely DU’s fault. The state of mental health care in this country is abysmal and bars many people from receiving proper diagnoses, documentation and treatment.
Personally, my suggestion is that DU continues to work towards providing more resources and pathways for students who want to get diagnosed and/or treated. I have several friends who are in this situation currently and they just don’t have any way of getting the materials and help they need. By providing a list of psychiatric resources and a step by step guide to getting diagnosed and obtaining proper documentation, many students would be able to find some relief and get the help they need instead of feeling like they’re stumbling around blindly in the dark, hoping that someone will help them.
