Counselling and Personal Development
Student Life
If you are concerned that you, or someone else, is behaving very unusually, learn more about mental illness and who can help you deal with them.
What is a mental illness?
You may hear people under a great deal of stress say “I think I’m going crazy!”. For you to be successful in your relationships, job, and university, you need to make decisions on how you behave based on accurate information about the world around you. For a small number of people in the community this decision making is made difficult by the presence of mental illness. These symptoms may include:
How will you notice it?
Early warning signs that someone is developing a mental illness include:
You may be a close friend or family member of someone with these signs and be the first to notice them. Sometimes a person may experience mental illness (delusions, hallucinations) after using drugs and/or alcohol, or as a result of withdrawing from drug or alcohol use. If so, you are advised to consult with a mental health professional about you concerns as soon as possible.
What
can you do about it?
Treatment for mental illnesses will usually involve a doctor, as well as other mental health professionals to assist the person manage their daily lives. Reducing the amount of stress in the person’s life seems to be very important to their successful recovery from a mental illness. The earlier the treatment, the better chance of recovery.
Mental
illness and your study
If you are studying at university then staying on top of your workload and managing your time will be very important. We recommend that you speak with a counsellor and a study skills advisor who will help you learn effective study skills. If you are being treated for a mental illness then you can also receive support from the Disability Resource Centre in the Division of Student Life and you are encouraged to do so.
Taking
it further
Getting
help
