There are some problems which are intensely personal to individual students. Sometimes the challenging, difficult third-level environment can bring them to the fore. The suicide earlier this month of a Dublin-based student in his west of Ireland home town represents the worst possible end to such a situation - a tragedy for his family, the town and his fellow students.
There are also more general problems common to significant numbers of students: first-year students, for example, sometimes encounter difficulties in settling into the unfamiliar rhythms and patterns of college life. According to the Irish Association of University and College Counsellors, almost half of all first-years will experience some difficulties in settling into college. One-quarter will suffer from loneliness at some point. "In the first week or two it's the sheer vastness of the college," says Treasa Fox, counselling psychologist in Athlone RTC. "Even a smaller college, like an RTC, is so much bigger than the schools they've come from. There's the sheer vastness, the sense of feeling lost, the separation from family and friends. It's probably exacerbated if there is a requirement, especially for those from the country, to live away from home. The home supports are not there."
In fact, international figures indicate that about 40 per cent of all students will encounter some emotional or psychological difficulties, from the break-up of a relationship to a family bereavement. Some 20 per cent of students will experience transient problems which can be dealt with using a little reassurance; another 10 to 20 per cent may need some form of ongoing support from counsellors or doctors; between 1 and 2 per cent may suffer a major psychiatric illness. In a very small number of cases, as this month's terrible incident illustrates, there is a risk of suicide. According to a submission made by Dr David Thomas, director of the student health service in TCD, to the recent Task Force on Suicide, the estimated level of suicide for the age group 15 to 24, into which most students fall, is 14 per 100,000, amounting to 20 per cent of all suicides.
Young males are most at risk. Last year two senior clinical psychiatrists with the Eastern Health Board, Dr Moya O'Brien and Ms Myra Barry, concluded that the rate of young male suicide had risen dramatically between 1980 and 1994. In 1980, 19 suicides were recorded in the male 19-to-24 age group. In 1994, the figure was 55. The figures are much lower for women: of the 83 people aged 12-24 who committed suicide in 1994, fewer than 15 per cent were female.
One reason for the disparity appears to be that, to a degree, women are still more likely to talk about their problems and seek assistance in solving them than men are - though the situation appears to be changing.
"I think men are becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of seeking help," Fox says. "Women would tend to discuss problems with one another and the referral to counselling might then come from a friend. Men come directly to counselling and tend not to discuss problems with their friends first. "I don't think that stigma is there as much, but it's still there in a social setting, where they won't discuss it with their friends."
An indication of the increasing willingness of men to seek counselling is that, in her first year in Athlone, Fox found that the ratio of females to males using the counselling service was five-to-one. Last year, it was two-to-one.
Put simply, it's important you use the support structures available to you if you encounter difficulties. Never feel that you're alone with your problems, or that you are somehow uniquely at fault for what is happening. In most cases, there are others students who are feeling the same way you are, or who have felt that way in the past.
"Sometimes students can feel that they have to do it it all on their own and tend not to relate back to family and tell them about what's going on," Fox says. "They generate the belief that they can't show any signs of stress or loneliness."
With years of experience of dealing with students' problems, colleges are now well equipped to help students overcome whatever difficulties they may be encountering.Chaplaincies, counsellors, psychologists, tutors and even fellow students - whether in the students' union or through the student freephone helpline run by TCD and UCD students' unions - are all on hand to assist with advice and sympathy. Colleges have realised too that the proactive approach is one of the best ways of providing students with the coping mechanisms they need todeal with stress and other problems. In Athlone, as in other colleges, the counselling and other student-support services maintain a high profile during student registration and initiation, talking to students about time-management, study skills and the services available to them. Not all stress is negative. A certain amount of stress is necessary to spur us on, to help us achieve our full potential. However, when that stress becomes too much, or when other social, personal or family problems begin to affect you while in college, you have a responsibility to yourself to seek assistance."Going to college is about taking responsibility for your financial affairs, for eating well and generally looking after yourself," Fox says. "Part of that responsibility is identifying problems and seeking help at an early stage."
