Signs of Suicide

The high rate of suicide among college students has long been recognized as one of the more ominous statistics of higher education. Last week Harvard Psychiatrist Mathew Ross reported that the college-age group runs a 50% higher suicidal risk than nonstudents in a similar age group, and he scolded the American College of Physicians at its meeting in Boston for not doing more to prevent such deaths. Individuals contemplating suicide normally signal their intention, he said, and doctors must be alert to the message. The most common clues:

> A "posture of depression" in which the student becomes withdrawn, "seldom leaving his room, which has, like himself, become increasingly unkempt and uncared for." This may be accompanied by lack of appetite, headaches, constipation and loss of weight. > A decline in selfesteem, which shows up in daydreaming, procrastination in schoolwork, inability to concentrate on reading material, apathy and fatigue. > A loss of interest in academic work. The student may prefer "to thumb idly through magazines and science fiction, haunt movies, sit about all day listening to hi-fi or just languishing." >Suicide threats and notes, which "should always be taken seriously."

A teacher or close personal friend should not delude himself into thinking that he can cope with the potential suicide, Ross warned. The disturbed student must have medical help, most often hospitalization, and exploratory psychotherapy. Even then, he should not be discharged to return "to an empty dormitory room," where "solitary residence" can aggravate his problem.

Another Harvard psychiatrist expressed concern last week about another form of student behavior. Speaking to the Maternity Center Association in Manhattan, Dr. Graham B. Blaine Jr. said that illegitimate births in the U.S. have tripled in the past 25 years. He placed a major share of the blame on college officials who, by allowing men and women to visit each other in dorms, have encouraged intimacy both on and off campus, and "are actually giving tacit consent to premarital sex." This "puts an unhealthy degree of pressure on those who wish to curb their natural impulses," he said. But Blaine saw brighter prospects ahead. He reported on a poll of Harvard undergraduates, most of whom indicated that they hope their future children will live by a stricter moral code than they have.

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