I am an economist, but I spend 10 hours a week doing advising: freshman advising, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences advising, major advising. Much of it is just basic stuff about rules and forms.
When things are busy, I often zip through these. When things are not so busy, it gets more interesting because I can ask open-ended questions. “Are you feeling OK?” “What do you envision doing with your life?” People talk about their hopes, plans and ambitions, and I listen as they often work out their own answers to what they should study and do. I like this part of the job a lot.
Some advising is just the economics of opportunity costs. “Is a second major worth giving up a broader array of interesting electives?” “Should you take easier classes now, given that this will use up credits that could have been used on interesting high-level classes later?”
If it’s economics, I’m fine. But sometimes, its psychology. What happens when a student feels like life is falling apart? Of course, this is not an area where I am completely inexperienced, fortunately or unfortunately. According to Counseling and Psychological Services, 60 percent of college students suffer at least one period of depression. Some are lucky enough to get out of it fairly quickly, but some people never do.
It’s really a tough surprise for students who have a self-image of themselves as extremely smart, strong and self-reliant. Suddenly, they are here, struggling, and have lost their sense of self. In his book “Darkness Visible,” William Styron writes about how this can hit. The writer who created such novels as “Sophie’s Choice” was suddenly brought down, effectively disabled. He’s proof that pure mental brilliance and toughness are not enough to beat this, although he believed otherwise for a long time.
I’ve known many students here like Styron, and I’ve suggested that they talk to the excellent staff at CAPS. Of course, they’d rush to Searle Health Services for a broken finger, but a depression that drags them down quarter after quarter is something that goes untreated.
Instead of getting help, students try to tough it out, at the expense of their grades. If they get put on probation, then we have to talk. Fortunately, problems often can be responded to much earlier.
Depression makes people question who they are and what their image will be in their families as well as doubt what they’ve always believed about themselves. Students at Northwestern define themselves as smart, but when things go wrong with classes and grades, it is as though their self has died. Many react by increasing the time they spend on studying at the expense of life activities, such as going to dinner with friends or doing activities they love.
I’ve tried these strategies, and they are the worst way to fight depression, the worst way to try to save the self you’ve always known. I’m enough of a social scientist to know that there’s a reason that people are social animals: We are better off working together than faring on our own. If you came to me for advice with these issues, I’d certainly recommend CAPS, but I also I would encourage you to consider the big picture. What demands for credentials, majors and commitments have we tied ourselves to, for no worthwhile gain? What do we really enjoy in this life? Do more of that.
