How to Deal with Break Downs—The College Edition

By: Sarah Schwadron '14

Anyone who has had extended contact with me will tell you that I have monthly breakdowns. As bad as that sounds, it’s how I deal with stress. I take on too much to do at once, and then I can manage it for while, then it becomes too much, and I cry for a whole night. As a new psych major, I know that’s not good. At all. But it’s what I do.

Without going into what caused this month’s breakdown, I will explain the colleges system on how they deal with student’s breakdown.

1- Someone gets the RA.
2- The RA calls the RLC on duty, and they both talk to you. The RLC then decides if you need to talk to the head of counseling.
3- You talk to someone on campus and they figure out ways to prevent it from happening again.

And it’s a great system. But… if you are me, that’s the last thing you need. My mother will tell you that I just need time, and only one person to talk to. And some retail therapy.

Again, not the healthiest way of dealing with my issues, but it works.

But beyond my personal thoughts, the counseling services that the college offers are great for ‘crisis situations’ (I kind of object to calling it that, but it’s not my call). Even if it happens at 11pm like mine did. My RA is great, and would not leave me alone until she was sure that I was fine. And the RLC on duty did follow up with me today. Even though it is stuff that I don’t need, it’s great to know that the campus has resources like that so readily available.

Now, to recover from my breakdown, I’m going to watch The Swan Princess, paint my nails, have a cup of tea, and study for Human Services. It actually sounds like a great night to me =]