Helping mentally ill students

Your article regarding the complex issue of mental illness among college students [“Crisis on Campus,” Sept. 3] highlighted many of the obstacles we are facing to prevent suicide and treat those suffering with mental illness on our campuses.

The resistance among college students to seek help or even the knowledge that they might need it shows that we have a long way to go to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and educate the public about these common yet treatable illnesses.

Wylie G. Tene

New York, N.Y.

Tene is public relations manager with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

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We must ask ourselves if current privacy laws ignore the needs of the mentally ill. Many suffering from serious mental illness have no idea that they are ill, or at best have very impaired judgment. It is unrealistic to expect them to navigate the complex road of finding appropriate care, diagnosis and treatment without outside help.

What is the point of defending someone’s privacy if doing so condemns them to the living hell of untreated mental illness?

M. Susan Broussard

Santa Monica

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It is no surprise to learn that most campus officials are reluctant to discuss the health of a student.

Federal code generally known as HIPAA has given virtually all people in healthcare a reluctance to discuss anything about their patient because of fear they will violate the privacy of the patient, even when a reasonable-person standard indicates that they should involve other people immediately.

Those kids are dead as much because of HIPAA as they are because of a student who was slowly going mad.

Wyman Bravard

Palo Alto