Healthy Columbia Brains

Columbia:

~ Among Morningside campus students, 80% reported a willingness to seek help from a mental health professional for a personal problem. (Columbia Health)

~ Over 50% of Columbia students come to CPS at some point during their time at Columbia. (CPS)

Depression:

~ 31% of college students felt so depressed that it was difficult to function at some time during the last 12 months. (American College Health Association)

~ Nearly half of all college students say they have felt so depressed that they found it difficult to function during the last school year. (American College Health Association)

~ 45% of college students felt that things were hopeless at some time during the last 12 months. (American College Health Association)

~ 121 million people worldwide suffer from depression. (World Health Organization)

~ Depression often co-occurs with anxiety disorders and substance abuse, with 30% of teens with depression also developing a substance abuse problem. (NIMH)

~ 2/3 of those suffering from depression never seek treatment. (To Write Love on Her Arms)

~ Depression has a neurobiological cause (Canadian Medical Association Journal)

~ Worldwide there are more deaths due to suicide than to accidents, homicides and war combined. (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

Suicide:

~ Suicide is the #2 cause of death for college students (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

~ For young people, aged 15-24, suicide is the third leading cause of death after unintentional injuries and homicide. (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

~ Suicide is the 10^th cause of death in the US for ages 1-85 – it is double the homicide rate (NIMH)

LGBTQ:

~ Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers (Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey 2007)

~ Nine out of 10 LGBT students (86.2%) experienced harassment at school; three-fifths (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation; and about one-third (32.7%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe (GLSEN National School Climate Survey 2009).

~ Sexual minority youth, or teens that identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, are bullied two to three times more than heterosexuals. (Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 2010)

Veterans:

~ 18 veterans commit suicide daily (PolitiFact and the Star-Ledger)

~ Approximately 150,000 of our nation’s veterans are homeless. (Veteran News Room)

~ Suicide rates among veterans are approximately 3 times higher than in the general population. (Katz Suicide Study, February 21, 2008)

~ Approximately 300,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – nearly 20% of the returning forces – are likely to suffer from either PTSD or major depression (Veteran News Room)

General:

~ 57% of adults believe that people are sympathetic to persons with mental illness. But only 25% of adults with mental health symptoms believe that people are sympathetic to them. (CDC)

~ Having supportive relationships is one of the strongest predictors of well-being. (CDC)