Universities Unprepared for Depression Among Students
Anxiety and depression are soaring among college students, Time says, though most schools aren’t prepared to deal with it. In fact, the statistics are downright disturbing: “Between 2009 and 2015, the number of students visiting counseling centers increased by about 30% on average, while enrollment grew by less than six percent,” Time reported, with almost 40% of all the college students surveyed claiming that “they had felt so depressed in the prior year that it was difficult for them to function.” Sixty-one percent of students also experienced “overwhelming anxiety,” while many other students reported suicide attempts or self-harm. The survey sampled 63,000 college students. Some schools have tweaked their treatment models (UCLA offers all of its incoming students feel online depression screenings, for example), but Time argues that most counselors are ill-equipped for the influx and commonly feel “battle fatigue.” Most universities (especially rural ones) simply don’t have the resources to combat the alarming rise in depression and anxiety and have increasingly turned to third-party providers for help.
President Trump Wants to Wage a New War on Drugs
A Los Angeles Times op-ed argued that President Trump’s new opioid response plan bears more than a passing resemblance to tired “war on drugs” rhetoric. “[Trump] clearly was most interested in the prong [of his plan]that gets ‘very tough’ on drug dealers. We know this because he said so approximately 5,000 times during a speech announcing the new plan in New Hampshire, a state chosen as the backdrop because it is one of those hardest hit by opioid addiction and overdose deaths,” the Times cheekily observed. Trump doesn’t plan to combat addiction with treatment so much as fight fire with fire. “It means throwing more low-level drug dealers in jail, building a wall along the southern border and cutting funding for sanctuary cities in California that he (wrongly) says protect drug dealers,” the story reported, adding that he also advocates for the execution of drug dealers. That said, the Times conceded that Trump made a few good points while unveiling his plan, such as holding pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid epidemic, arming first responders and schools with overdose-reversing Naloxone, and making addiction treatment drugs cheaper.
Demi Lovato Thanks Fans for Her Sobriety
Singer Demi Lovato got emotional about her sobriety during one of her recent New York City concerts. Supporting acts DJ Khaled and Kehlani got the entire arena to sing “Happy Birthday” to celebrate her sixth year of sobriety, PopSugar reported. “Yesterday was a really big day for me,” the 25-year-old told her audience. “Yesterday, six years ago, I was drinking vodka out of a Sprite bottle at 9 in the morning, throwing up in the car, and I just remember thinking, ‘This is no longer cute. This is no longer fun. And I’m just like my dad.’” She said that she remains open about her story in the hopes that it’ll erase the stigma around mental illness and that people in the audience know it’s okay to reach out for help. “I can never say thank you enough to you guys for the support that you’ve given me over the years,” she said. “And you’ve forgiven me for my mistakes. So thank you for being a part of saving my life. I love you guys.”
Netflix Under Fire for Too Many Smoking Scenes
The US-based anti-smoking organization Truth Initiative has leveled criticism against streaming service Netflix. According to MarketWatch, Netflix features more than twice as many scenes with tobacco use (or implied tobacco use) than its rival networks. Truth Initiative analyzed all of the most popular series among viewers aged 15-24 (across every network), which revealed that Netflix showed 319 “tobacco incidents.” The hit series Stranger Things topped the nonprofit organization’s list with over 180 such incidents, with Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards following closely behind. “There has been a revolution in television that now encompasses a complex universe including Hulu, Netflix and an emerging world of on-demand platforms,” Robin Koval, president of Truth Initiative, said. “And while everybody was watching, but no one was paying attention, we’ve experienced a pervasive re-emergence of smoking imagery that is glamorizing and renormalizing a deadly habit to millions of impressionable young people. It has to stop.”
Smartphone Addiction Common for People with Anxiety
A brand-new study out of the UK found that people struggling with mental health issues are more likely to get addicted to their smartphones. Psychologists collected info from 640 smartphone users between the ages of 13 and 69, discovering that “those who live with illnesses such as anxiety or depression, or those who have family problems to an extent that they are ‘emotionally unstable,’ are more dependent on the devices.” People who have trouble articulating their emotions are also more likely to struggle with smartphone addiction, the story added. One therapist noted that smartphone addiction is nearly identical to alcohol and drug addiction: “All kinds of obsessive-compulsive behaviors have to do with coping with pain. It could be emotional pain, feeling abandoned or feeling afraid.” The study argues that people struggling with smartphone addiction should address the underlying causes of it rather than simply reducing their screen time.
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