Reporter Volume 26, No.23 April 6, 1995

Students typically encounter a great deal of stress (academic, living
arrangement, family, work, financial) during the course of an academic
year. For some, the pressures become overwhelming and feel
unmanageable.
	The purpose of this message is to help you identify both the
less obvious and the more dramatic signs of emotional distress and to
suggest how you might be of assistance to students.
Among the signs of more serious distress are:
o Actual self-harming (cutting, taking an overdose of a medication,
drug or toxic chemical).
o Attempting to harm oneself (climbing out onto a window ledge or the
roof).
o Talking to others about killing oneself.
o Leaving a suicide note.
o Aggressiveness in dealing with the environment (slamming doors
violently, using one's fist to break a window or hit walls, throwing
or breaking of furniture.
o Aggressiveness toward others (screaming, threatening, insulting,
actual physical attack).
	These signs of serious distress should be reported to Public
Safety (ext. 2222) without delay in order to ensure the individual's
safety. If the student resides in the residence halls, his/her Hall
Director or the Office of Residence Life (645-2171) also should be
notified.
Some less obvious behaviors that may function as signals that a
student may be feeling more anxious or depressed than usual are the
patterns of coping described below:
o Social participation (person either becomes significantly more
dependent on your time and attention or withdraws from usual
participation and becomes relatively socially isolated).
o Appearance (a usually neat person becomes careless in terms of
hygiene and/or dress).
o Class attendance (person either becomes significantly inconsistent
or stops attending classes).
o Energy (unusual fatigue or inexplicable bursts of activity which may
or may not be productive).
o Mood (unusually irritable, restless, sad).
o Alcohol/substance use (occasional drinker/user engages in the
activity with significantly greater frequency and/or the amount
consumed per usage increases significantly).
o Extreme weight loss/gain.
	You can be of assistance by encouraging the person to contact
one of the following services:
Counseling Center, 120 Richmond Quadrangle Ellicott Complex (645-2720)
To schedule an appointment, phone or walk in weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5
p.m. Services are free, voluntary, and confidential.
Crisis Services, Inc. (834-3131) 
An off campus, daily 24-hour telephone hotline; if necessary and
appropriate, Crisis Services' Emergency Outreach Unit can come to
campus for evaluation of risk to self or others.
The Office of Academic Advisement
Academic deans and other offices provide assistance for academically
related problems. Their names and numbers can be found in the
University Directory.
	If you have any questions or concerns about someone, call the
Counseling Center (645-2720) and consult with the counselor-on-duty.
Remember: it is better to obtain assurance that a perceived problem is
not serious than not to call at all.