Depression in Young Men

[C. Flower]

To be honest, I don't think in that situation getting active politically would be good for them. It is not to do with my attitudes the politics of the causes. I just wonder about the wisdom of replacing an internal feeling of emptiness by external action. Surely that would simply involve masking their internal pain by external action? It won't deal with the pain, just distract from it. I would think external actions should be a choice in itself rather than a distraction from problems. External distractions, whether in politics, religion, sex or alcohol don't actually heal the person and first and foremost they need to heal. Otherwise, when the distraction ends the pain will still be there, and may even have got worse.

I am not talking about taking up politics as a hobby, I'm talking about purposive action, along with other people, to change the situation that is causing the problem.

[C. Flower]

One of the main problems is a complete lack of supports for young people, in terms of counseling.

For example in DCU it is next to impossible to get an appointment with the counselor, sure you might be able to get an appointment for some afternoon weeks or months away but that in many cases may be too late - even the step of actually going looking for help is very hard to take and being rebuffed and told there is no time for you is hardly helpful. I'm not blaming the counselor of course, there are only so many hours in a day.

DCU never seemed to take the issue of mental health seriously - case in point the "labyrinth" project. A labyrinth is basically a glorified patio with a maze painted on it. Supposedly walking around this helps your mental health - THIS is DCU's approach to addressing depression and other mental health issues, a bloody patio!

The estimate for the the total cost of this project is fifty thousand euro. Originally the Student Union were to donate ten grand towards this project, taken from the membership fee every student pays. However I collected a petition and forced a vote in which 70% of the students rejected giving this donation (biggest landslide in a DCU referendum in decades) - i.e there is no desire among the students to have this labyrinth. At the time I suggested that the fifty grand be put towards another counselor, extra hours, student support schemes, mental health awareness campaigns, - stuff which will be of material benefit.

This hasn't happened. Instead the labyrinth project is going ahead anyway (I had thought that the referendum had killed off the idea altogether);

http://www4.dcu.ie/marketing/staffne...abyrinth.shtml

It will come as no surprise that the person championing this is the college chaplain. With support from the highest levels in the college.

What a joke. It seems one persons ego and the desire for prominent "facilities" ideal for nice pictures for the college website/brochure are more important than getting real and trying to properly help students.

DCU is a good college, so I wholly doubt that this lackadaisical approach to student mental health is not repeated across the spectrum in similar institutions.

Support services for students and young people are vital, and we need more of them. College for some people is the best time of their life, but for many others it is very difficult and it's easy to see how it can be so; huge pressures, some people living away from home for the first time, perhaps isolated and lonely, there are a multitude of problems young people in this situation can face. Which is why seeing money wasted in such a manner annoys me so much.

What is a labyrinth? Many confuse the labyrinth with a maze. A maze has many paths, twists and turns and is a puzzle to be solved. A labyrinth has only one entrance and one path to the centre. The way in is the way out. Unlike a maze which is designed to get you lost, a labyrinth helps you to find yourself. The labyrinth is unicursal and is an archetype, although even historians are not quite sure of its origin.

What utter head-wrecking nonsense. Well done for opposing it.