The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/mental_health/)
Director of the Skorton Center for Health Initiatives Julie Edwards spoke with The Sun about the Center’s recent and upcoming efforts around mental health and sexual violence prevention.
We all know someone who claims that they are a new person after some life change. Whether it’s a breakup, weight loss, switching majors or graduation, this person insists they are not who they used to be. Recently, psychologists have coined a new term to describe this trait: Derailment. Emerging research has demonstrated a close relationship between derailment and symptoms of depression, anxiety and more.
Derailment is defined as one’s “perceived changes in identity and self-direction.” It’s commonly viewed as a temporal discordance of the self, meaning that individuals high in derailment may have a hard time making meaningful connections between who they saw themselves as in the past and who they see themselves as now.
Tompkins County plans to implement the Crisis Alternative Response and Engagement Team, a program that will better accommodate individuals facing varying levels of mental health crises when they call 911 for help.
At their annual Mental Health Summit, Building Ourselves Through Sisterhood and Service educated women of color about the importance of mental health through speaker panels and workshops.
It’s not anyone’s fault that treatment paths are not well-known. To be honest, I used to have the same questions about myself. Cornell students should be educated on the varying paths of mental health treatment in today’s world. Previously, I discussed what happens when you disclose wanting to end your life to a counselor and how being inpatient at a hospital works. I also talked about taking a health leave to get additional help — specifically, going to residential. However, I didn’t explicitly describe what residential was nor the path to treatment as a whole. When the Cornell community is educated on these topics, it can work to destigmatize mental health and teach others that healing is a process, not instantaneous.
Trigger warning: this piece contains discussion of suicidal ideation, depression and other mental health conditions.
I’m not writing this column in my Ithaca dorm room, unfortunately. As a matter of fact, I’m not even enrolled in Spring classes at the moment. I’m writing this column in a time crunch because I have limited computer access where 90 percent of what’s on Google is blocked and my usual computer time is consumed by endless health appointments. I’m in California, a one hour car-drive away from my hometown of San Ramon, on a completely different coast. I’m in a psychiatric residential care facility, on a health leave from Cornell. A lot has happened since I’ve last published a column.
Two-time Olympic Medalist and Dancing With the Stars Champion Laurie Hernandez discussed gymnastics and mental health in a Friday night event.
Add in the commitment of playing a Division I sport, and pressures and stress levels are likely to reach an all-time high.
Therapist and podcast host Mimi Cole, known for her Instagram page The Lovely Becoming, will be speaking about self-care and self-compassion in a Tuesday evening event hosted by Body Positive Cornell.
It’s the psych ward. There’s no way out of it. No one wants to be there. I’m not in any way glamorizing suicide and hospitalization. I just want people to know that it’s not as scary and stigmatized as people make it out to be.