This year, Tufts' Health Service office has added an extra service to its repertoire. Students who go in for a regular checkup may get a little extra bang for their buck — an unwarranted, spontaneous mental health screening. In an attempt to curb depression, suicide and other psychological issues, the office recently began requesting students to fill out a survey used to evaluate their mental health. Although we recognize the seriousness of depression among college students and understand the need for more services to help students recognize and treat mental sicknesses, we question the validity and effectiveness of Health Service's actions.
A person's mental health status should not be reduced to a small set of questions. To do so is to trivialize the problem — to try to oversimplify mental conditions that are nothing if not complex. Sure, this is not an attempt to replace other diagnostic techniques; it's just another tool for the box. But the fact that it applies to so many students may lead to the perception that it is a signature aspect of mental health screening on campus, and that's not the message the university should be sending.
As Tufts designs its screening process, it is important to note how students will view the efforts. Those who walk into the Health Service are most likely there because they have a cold or the flu or any other of a score of similar ailments. They are not looking to be mentally analyzed, and many will view the surveys as a nuisance. Certainly, the surveys are somewhat sophisticated, but they can hardly account for students who find them meaningless enough to rush through them, providing any answers that will not raise red flags.
Not only will the surveys fail to catch many cases of depression, but they also serve as a turnoff and give the impression that mental health services at Tufts are more rudimentary than they are. Such personal questions need not be asked at Health Service. Instead of making students feel as if they are being silently judged, Health Service should focus on the problems that really do cause students to seek the help of the professionals there.
Tufts already has a center for mental health — it's called the Counseling and Mental Health Service Center. If the university wants to raise awareness and increase treatment for mental illnesses, why not expand the services of the Counseling Center?
While we understand the goal of further linking the Health Service office and the Counseling Center in order to maximize their effectiveness, the surveys seem like an odd way to generate crossover gains. Health Service is already providing students with significant benefits. By attempting to cover mental health along with physical health, the office could end up overextending itself and not providing either service effectively.
Tufts needs more comprehensive mental health services, but this solution misses the point. Expanding student awareness about mental illnesses and about how common these illnesses are can be done much more effectively. Mental health services are crucial ones that every university should provide, and this is certainly something the university seems to recognize. But while it is commendable that Tufts is aiming to expand them, its methods leave something to be desired.
