9 deaths at University of SoCal

[Lethe]

9 student deaths at USC since August stun campus, spark alarm

The ninth death since August was reported at USC, as the body of a male student was found in an off-campus apartment Monday.

www.latimes.com

9 deaths in one semester is a lot. Thoughts?

 

[Stan]

It is heartbreaking to think about this. We need to understand whether these kids had issues before going to college or it came about after. I find personally that some kids and young adults get far too much stress in the academic world. Especially those who go from being at home in a safe environment to a remote place with no friends. Some will thrive on the challenge and that is great for them, for others it could break them and be a pushing point of no return.

 

[Grey-zone]

Even the future elites are killing themselves. I guess it's always been this way, plenty of bad to go around no matter you're social status or trajectory.

 

[Lethe]

Even the future elites are killing themselves. I guess it's always been this way, plenty of bad to go around no matter you're social status or trajectory.

University degree hardly sets you up as 'future elite'.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

It is heartbreaking to think about this. We need to understand whether these kids had issues before going to college or it came about after. I find personally that some kids and young adults get far too much stress in the academic world. Especially those who go from being at home in a safe environment to a remote place with no friends. Some will thrive on the challenge and that is great for them, for others it could break them and be a pushing point of no return.

Yeah it can be tough. I remember. I was so out of my depth. I just got very drunk.

 

[Return2Dust]

Damn. I have a child there. Nine students- I had no idea this was going on. It's competitive academically and financially. My child's roommate is from another country, talked about missing home to a counselor and was immediately hospitalized against their will. This person swore they would never talk to a counselor again. I can see why the school is on edge.

 

[TAW122]

Damn. I have a child there. Nine students- I had no idea this was going on. It's competitive academically and financially. My child's roommate is from another country, talked about missing home to a counselor and was immediately hospitalized against their will. This person swore they would never talk to a counselor again. I can see why the school is on edge.

There has to be more than just 'missing home' to be hospitalized against one's will. Did you know if the roommate mentioned anything about harm, suicide, violence, or plans? I know those are often the things that could trigger such a response (from most mental health professionals and mandated reporters).

If that is true (getting locked up for strictly only mentioning missing home), then it's really dangerous when people go seek help as it can work against them and they have (little or) no recourse against the counselor. It's even more fucked up that said person would then be held legally responsible for the medical/hospital bill as a result of being involuntarily hospitalized. This makes my blood boil with furious rage, not only did the shithead counselor over-react (assuming that there isn't more to the story), the poor patient is also on the hook for medical bills stemming from such an unfortunate ordeal. Then all of this is somehow legal and there is no recourse/redress from this debacle makes me angry at the whole system. That case certainly isn't the first and certainly won't be the last. At any rate, I hope your child's roommate is able to fight against the hospitalization and also defer the bill (which is bullshit as it's involuntarily forced on him/her).

 

[Taki]

Even if all 9 were suicides (not proven) 9 out of 50,000 is within the norm for the general population. The national rate is 14/100,000, and accounting for age and gender this is within that range. Move on.

 

[Return2Dust]

There has to be more than just 'missing home' to be hospitalized against one's will. Did you know if the roommate mentioned anything about harm, suicide, violence, or plans? I know those are often the things that could trigger such a response (from most mental health professionals and mandated reporters).

If that is true (getting locked up for strictly only mentioning missing home), then it's really dangerous when people go seek help as it can work against them and they have (little or) no recourse against the counselor. It's even more fucked up that said person would then be held legally responsible for the medical/hospital bill as a result of being involuntarily hospitalized. This makes my blood boil with furious rage, not only did the shithead counselor over-react (assuming that there isn't more to the story), the poor patient is also on the hook for medical bills stemming from such an unfortunate ordeal. Then all of this is somehow legal and there is no recourse/redress from this debacle makes me angry at the whole system. That case certainly isn't the first and certainly won't be the last. At any rate, I hope your child's roommate is able to fight against the hospitalization and also defer the bill (which is bullshit as it's involuntarily forced on him/her).

There might be more to the story. The roommate said they missed home and didn't admit more to my child. I know the person was sleeping quite a bit but not enough to be alarming. When they were sent to the hospital for a 3 day hold, meds were administered against this person's will and I'm sure the bill will be outrageous. I'll pass this information on to the roommate. It sucks they won't seek help again after this experience. They experienced the shame of telling their professors where they were for 3 days and had to call their parents and explain what happened.

Even if all 9 were suicides (not proven) 9 out of 50,000 is within the norm for the general population. The national rate is 14/100,000, and accounting for age and gender this is within that range. Move on.

I think the concern is the campus has 40,000 students. 20k undergrad/20k grad. 9 died in less than 4 months. The school is trying to keep panic low by saying they aren't all confirmed suicides. It's definitely a concern for the school.