Which experiences did you have with others dealing with the topic mental illness at college?

[noname223]

I was in my self-help group recently. And we talked about experiences how the topic mental illness is treated at college in our experiences. Most of the things were positive for me (not for them). However, I once experienced in a private chat group (behind closed doors) how a group of people made fun of someone who just opened up about suicidality. They literally joked around he should throw himself in front of a train. I had the feeling they did not take him serious at all. Before you say bullshit like that it is way better to keep quiet. I think they just thought his thoughts were harmless and they could make fun of it. Personally I don't think they were harmless. One needs to be brave to open up to someone and they just spit in his face instead.
I certainly won't talk with such people about this topic. These people were assholes and I felt very sorry for him.

Personally, I have the feeling most people in college are sensitive enough (some would say woke enough) to treat this topic (mental illness) carefully. But it seemingly also depends on the subject you study. In my subject there is a lot of racism instead. But I am too worried about getting identified when I talk about this story.
I am often a complete mental wreck and people notice that. (Not fully sure though) But I am also a smartass and some people respect that. But I am also not perfectly integrated in the usual college culture I don't go to parties usually. My experiences are limited

On this forum I read about bullying at college I never experienced that. I posted a very long thread in suicide subforum this evening but I was scared about negative implications posting this take. I don't want to be seen as pro-death and so I deleted it. But I think i am just way too paranoid and anxious recently. I put so much work in this thread. I saved it maybe I will change some parts and post it again in a few days.

 

[noname223]

Bump

 

[soulkitty]

Hmmmmm I think it just really depends on the group you hang out around. I've only been to an art college before. Some people were pretty not understanding of mental health and stuff, there was one person (that happened to be one of my roommates) that always extremely pressured me to get therapy and largely criticized my depressive behaviors, and tried to force me to have talks about my mental health with them. They also bullied people in class that he found to be different, he usually didn't do it directly but he was in a group of people that just blatantly mocked others even when the people they mocked was just a few feet away from them and could hear everything. It really made me want to deck them in the face.

But on the other hand there was a group of people that I loved that made up over half of the class. They were always very kind and welcoming, and accepted people, all of their differences and quirks included. They were supportive to me even when I was having panic attacks everyday at school and cried a lot in the middle of class (although I tried my best to hide the crying. They were what a lot people considered to be the "weird" kids, but all of them are so awesome and not afraid to be themselves, I miss them. I feel like it's really a roll of the dice if you will find people at college that aren't judgmental or intolerant towards mental illness. The situation you described with the chat group and that person is so vile and disgusting. I can't believe they said those things about someone who is clearly struggling really bad and grappling with life and death. It makes me really sad, I hope one day suicidal/mentally ill people won't be harshly discriminated against