Health Center offers counseling for students

Every day, about 86 Americans commit suicide and another 1,500 make an attempt, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Tuesday night, one of those 86 suicides occurred on campus with the death of sophomore Jason Schwab.\nThe suicide, which occurred at the beginning of Thanksgiving break, raises questions surrounding the issues of why it happened and how to prevent other suicides. \nCounseling for students is available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the Counseling and Psychological Services (CaPS) office, located on the fourth floor of the Health Center. \nStudents enrolled in at least three credit hours of classes automatically pay a service fee, which makes them eligible to visit the Health Center free of charge. \nGlenn Anderson, the director of training for CaPS, said it is important for someone considering suicide to get counseling.\n"If a person's feeling seriously suicidal then they should go immediately to a place like CaPS, where they can be seen by a counselor," he said. "Or go to the Bloomington Hospital ER where people can make sure they will be safe."\nThe CaPS center also counsels the friends of suicide victims.\n"It's difficult to lose a friend through suicide," said Carolyn Lee, a counselor for CaPS. "Often there is something called 'survivor guilt,' where individuals that were close will feel bad for not noticing the person was depressed or suicidal. They may feel, inappropriately, that somehow they were responsible for the suicide."\nShe said a person might think that it is "all their fault" that their friend committed suicide, but generally suicides happen because of a collection of things.\nAnderson agreed that there is not usually a singular cause for people to commit suicide.\n"There are a number of factors that come into play when someone becomes seriously suicidal," he said. "There's often a feeling of hopelessness, which is also a symptom of depression. But then there may be other events that have happened in someone's life that lead them to suicide."\nAlthough depression is often linked with winter months, Professor Emeritus of Psychology Kenneth Heller said suicide rates are not necessarily higher in winter months.\nAccording to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, many college-aged people are more likely to commit suicide than younger age groups.\n"There was a very old study of college student suicide which looked at where and among what groups you are likely to find higher suicide rates," Heller said. "A factor that came out in that study was people who are away from home, who lacked their traditional support networks feel overwhelmed."\nLee stressed the importance of friends and family taking an interest in people who are potentially suicidal.\n"Any talk about suicide should be taken seriously, and people hopefully in the midst of their own busy schedules can spend some time talking to that person," she said.