FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kathryn M. Quirk
Screening for Mental Health
Kquirk@mentalhealthscreening.org
781-591-5247 or 617-875-6003

How Do You Score? Screenings Expose Risky Drinking on Campuses

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass., April 4, 2011 – Wasted, trashed, drunk, sloshed: typical college lingo heard on campuses nationwide. For many students, it can be hard to draw the line between use and abuse when playing games like beer pong, quarters and flip cup, or when mixing alcohol with energy drinks. April is Alcohol Awareness Month and college students nationwide are encouraged to find out their drinking score at www.HowDoYouScore.org.

“While many believe alcohol is a normal part of college life, social drinking can quickly develop into at-risk drinking,” says Andrea Zelinko, director of alcohol abuse and impaired driving prevention initiatives for The BACCHUS Network. “Often students think that because they don’t drink everyday or feel like they need to drink, their alcohol use is safe.”

In an effort to raise awareness, more than 600 colleges across the country will participate in National Alcohol Screening Day® (NASD) on April 7, 2011. NASD is an education and screening program designed to help individuals evaluate their drinking and provide resources for those who score positive for symptoms of harmful alcohol use. As part of the screening event, students can take an anonymous self-assessment, pick up educational materials and talk one-on-one with a health professional. If appropriate, students will be directed to support services on campus.

NASD targets students who are risky drinkers. Since 2005, students have taken more than 80,000 screenings. Of those screened, 43% scored in the range of “harmful or hazardous drinking” and 19% scored in the “alcohol dependence” range.

“We’ve held the screenings for several years and each year when we do it, we receive a handful of referrals from the counselors,” says Meagen Wentz, wellness programs administrator at the Office of Alcohol and Drug Education at Central Connecticut State University. “I do hear students talk about it at the event—saying things like, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize this or that.’ I feel like our students appreciate learning about [risky drinking] in a way that isn’t threatening just by taking the screening. We screened 202 students last year and we’re hoping to beat that number this year.”

Unfortunately, the consequences of risky drinking can be more than a nagging hangover:

• 19.2% of males and 16.1% of females reported having unprotected sex because of their drinking (American College Health Association, 2010).

• Frequent binge drinkers are 21 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to miss classes, fall behind in schoolwork, get in trouble with campus police or drive a car after drinking (Harvard School of Public Health).

• 28.6% of males and 12% of females report consuming seven or more alcoholic drinks the last time they “partied” or socialized (American College Health Association, 2010).

National Alcohol Screening Day, held in April as part of Alcohol Awareness Month, is a program of the nonprofit Screening for Mental Health®. Visit www.HowDoYouScore.org to find participating schools or to take the screening online. To learn more about NASD, visit www.nationalalcoholscreeningday.org.

For More Information, please go to www.YouTube.com/HYSHOTV and www.facebook.com/HelpYourselfHelpOthers.org or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/HYSHO.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kathryn Quirk
Screening for Mental Health
(781) 591-5247, kquirk@mentalhealthscreening.org
or Jenna Brown
(781) 791-4558, jenna@inkhouse.net

National Depression Screening Day is October 7th—Free, Anonymous Online Screenings Available at www.HelpYourselfHelpOthers.org

WELLESLEY, Mass. (October 6, 2010) – In observance of Mental Illness Awareness Week, Screening for Mental Health released data revealing that 18 to 25 year olds are 17% more likely to be depressed now than five years ago. This information, which compared online screening data from 2005 to data from 2010, comes on the heels of a report released last week from the Centers for Disease Control stating that 1 in 10 Americans are depressed‎. However despite rising rates of depression, particularly among college students, a 2009 Associated Press poll revealed that the majority of depressed college students did not intend to speak with a mental health professional about their problems.

The prevalence of depression and related symptoms among college students is cause for concern, particularly in light of the fact that the risk of suicide in people with major depression is about 20 times that of the general population. While recent media coverage of young adult suicide has brought this issue to national attention, suicide has been a growing issue on college campuses, ranking as the second leading cause of death of college students. An estimated 1,100 college students take their own lives each year; an alarming figure for parents, educators, and young adults alike. However, suicide remains widely misunderstood.

“There is this myth that people who talk about suicide don’t do it. In fact, we know that 70% of people who die by suicide have let someone know their intention but that person often does not know what to do,” says Douglas G. Jacobs, M.D., founder of Screening for Mental Health. “While not all depressed people have thoughts of suicide. People who are suicidal usually are depressed. The goal of screening is to identify depression early on, when it is easier to treat, thus averting the tragedy of suicide.”

Treatment for depression and other mood disorders is effective more than 80% of the time, and is crucial to the reduction of suicide. However, according to a survey of college counseling centers, 81% of the students who died by suicide last year had never been clients of their school’s counseling center. For this reason, it is important for peers and educators to be on the lookout for warning signs of suicide, and direct anyone that they think may be depressed or suicidal to the appropriate resources.

Warning signs of suicide:

Anyone who observes or experiences the following behaviors and feelings should seek help by contacting a mental health professional or calling 1-800-273-TALK for a referral:

•    Hopelessness
•    Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge
•    Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities, seemingly without thinking
•    Feeling trapped—like there’s no way out
•    Increased alcohol or drug use
•    Withdrawing from friends, family, and society
•    Anxiety, agitation, inability to sleep or sleeping all the time
•    Dramatic mood changes
•    No reason for living; no sense of purpose in life

People who observe any of the following behaviors should dial 9-1-1 or seek immediate help from a mental health provider:

•    Someone threatening to hurt or kill him/herself, or talking about wanting to hurt or kill him/herself
•    Someone looking for ways to kill him/herself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means
•    Someone talking or writing about death, dying or suicide, when these actions are out of the ordinary for the person

On Thursday, October 7th, more than 500 colleges nationwide will participate in National Depression Screening Day, giving students access to free, anonymous in-person screening events or the opportunity to take an online screening at www.HelpYourselfHelpOthers.org

About Screening for Mental Health
Screening for Mental Health, Inc. (SMH) is dedicated to promoting the improvement of mental health by providing the public with education, screening, and treatment resources. SMH pioneered the concept of large-scale mental health screening and education programs in 1991, with its flagship program, National Depression Screening Day (NDSD). SMH programs—provided both in-person and online—educate, raise awareness, and screen individuals for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, alcohol use disorders, and suicide.