More students have problems

More than 90 percent of counseling center directors throughout the country have reported an… More than 90 percent of counseling center directors throughout the country have reported an increase in students who have severe psychological problems visiting their centers, according to a recently released study.

The study — released by former Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Robert Gallagher — also showed that more directors reported concerns about students injuring themselves, the prevalence of eating disorders and an increase of sexual assault than in 2004.

Gallagher has been administering this survey of counseling centers for approximately 25 years.

In the late 1980s, Gallagher and his colleagues at the counseling center at Pitt noticed an increase in students coming into the center with more serious problems.

The increase piqued Gallagher’s interest, so he began to wonder if the same trend was being observed at other centers across the country.

In 1988, the year that the first survey was administered, 56 percent of counseling center directors noticed an increase in students visiting their centers who had serious psychological problems.

According to Gallagher, this number steadily climbed throughout the years until it leveled out at about 80 percent.

But in recent years, the percentage has begun to rise once more.

Gallagher also noted the number of students that the counseling centers see who are taking psychiatric medication has also increased.

In 2005, 25 percent of students who visited the centers were medicated, up from 17 percent in 2000 and 9 percent in 1994.

In 2005, Gallagher saw a very high response from counseling center directors.

Out of the 500 surveys he sent out, he received 366 responses. Usually he receives between 300 and 325 responses a year.

When the data is returned to him, he sorts the results into groups based on the size of the school that it came from.

Generally, Gallagher will administer the study on his own, but he has had graduate student assistance in the past.

Also, Gallagher often utilizes the help of a second graduate student to put the data onto a computer and mold it into a publishable form, as Gallagher is self-admittedly “not very good with technology.”

He did not dream of becoming involved with counseling as an undergraduate. In fact, he originally set out to become a high school biology teacher.

This was his dream until he won a contest in which the reward was a one-year scholarship to Harvard University to study for a counseling degree.

While preparing, he applied and won another award from Rutgers University for an all-expenses-paid, three-year program in the same field.

He later graduated with a doctorate in counseling psychology from Rutgers and began working for Pitt in 1966 as a psychologist.

Gallagher spent 25 years as the director of Pitt’s counseling center before serving as vice chancellor for student affairs

While he was director of the counseling center, Gallagher also served on a national committee of directors.

He traveled to different centers throughout the country and, while traveling, discovered that Pitt’s counseling center compares favorably with all of the best centers that he visited.

“These folks work very hard and do tremendous work,” Gallagher said. “It is very satisfying. They help a lot of students through their work. Sixty percent of students report they have remained in school because of counseling.”