Frequent camps suicides sound alarm for students' mental health
By Guan Xiaomeng (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-11-19 12:01

University student suicides have been a rather frequent occurrence lately. It is reported that 15 university students have committed suicide so far this year on Beijing campuses alone. The tragic cutting-off of young lives has drawn people's eyes onto the worsening metal health of university students.

The mental state of university is a main focal point of psychological research. A research study shows that more than 60 percent of university students have mental problems that are above average levels; even worse, the number of these students is still increasing. Meanwhile, a poll on attitude towards suicide says 10.7 percent of the interviewees have considered committing suicide.

Experts pointed out that the campus suicides are directly caused by pressure from schoolwork, jobs, love, economic ability, family conflict or other burdens, with schoolwork pressure being the top killer.

"Campus suicide caused by pressure from schoolwork mainly happen in famous universities," said a Tsing Hua University professor. The cutthroat competitions in study and jobs drive those students at a disadvantage flinch from reality by giving up their lives.

A female sophomore majoring in Chinese at Peking University jumped off from the ninth floor of a campus building this April. Her classmates said several days before she killed herself, she had told them about having lost confidence in herself.

Half a month later, a male Phd student killed himself in the same way. It is said that he was so frustrated because his teacher didn't quite agree to him with his dissertation and he felt it wouldn't pass.

Moreover, improper practical education from home leaves a hangover on students and they carry the hangover to campus. Some students fail to take care of themselves or to cooperate with others once they are away from their parents because of being the only child in their families. Thus they become disappointed and depressive or unsociable and eccentric, leading to various other mental problems.

Hardly two weeks into this new 2005-2006 school year, a freshman of a university in South China's Guangdong Province killed himself over campus life. His reason? The campus food was not to his taste and he couldn't wash his clothes.

Why do university students, considered as "unusually lucky people," choose to end their seemingly "beautiful" lives prematurely?

Under the current education system, the multitude of examinations drive the students to work just like "examination machines," suppressing the cultivation of other abilities. Their knowledge accumulates day after day, but alongside a stunted personality development and mental defects.

A university teacher pointed out that mental problems might cause insanity or worse still, suicide, crimes, and other serious problems.

Experts are calling for the early establishment of a warning and intervention mechanism besides psychological education and counseling on campus to reduce tragedies caused by mental problems to a minimum.

However, the establishment of a campus mental health system is still in its infant stage nationwide despite the measure already taken by some universities in some big cities.

The five major symptoms of students' mental problems

1. Anxiety. Anxiety is nervousness, worry, or even fear caused by current or anticipated setbacks.

2. Inhospitality. Having suffered from setbacks, students develop a kind of self-defense called inhospitality. Over time, nothing can inspire these students to do anything; as a result, they pass away the time without accomplishing much.

3. Small mind. Some students can never blow out the flame of complaint in their heart after they have suffered from setbacks or grievance. As a result, they easily get eccentric and calculating when they encounter difficulty.

4. Arrogance. Arrogance is a kind of hypocritical psychology produced by the overestimation of one's own ability.

5. Self-contempt. Students with self-contempt lose confidence in themselves and are likely to develop infantile autism (complete self-absorption; inability to communicate with the outside world) because of bad connections with others.