Mental Health Difficulty
Guidelines & Procedures
- Mental health difficulties represent a serious on-going difficulty across aspects of everyday life. Those registered with the Disability Support Service have been identified as requiring special assistance to enable them to manage their academic and vocational goals successfully.
- Mental health is an umbrella term pertaining to how we perceive and feel about ourselves and others. It also relates to our ability to cope with change, transition and the stresses of everyday life and is an essential component of general health and wellbeing.
- Poor mental health affects our ability to cope with and manage our lives, particularly during personal change and through key life events, and decreases our ability to participate fully in life.
- Mental health problems can be transient, cyclical or more permanent.
- Depression - http://www.aware.ie/
- Anxiety - http://www.mentalhealthireland.ie/links-mainmenu-23/19-anxiety-panic-attacks-ocd
- Anorexia, bulimia, eating disorders - http://www.bodywhys.ie/
- Bipolar Disorder - http://www.bipolarireland.com/
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - http://www.ocdireland.org/
- Schizophrenia - http://www.shine.ie/
Policies and Support Programmes
RED: Online Academic Skills
RED (Resources for Education) has been especially designed for all UCC students, to help them with their academic skills. It has sections on notetaking, preparing for exams and writing essays. It also has how-to guides, and tips for giving presentations. You can check it out at: www.ucc.ie/en/red/
Guidelines, Useful Publications & Forms
A list of the DSS guidelies, publications and forms is available from this link
Signs and Symptoms
- The person with depression may become overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness and despair.
- Depressed mood.
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt
- Obvious disinterest in all activities most of the time.
- Withdrawal from activity/unexplained absences. There is likely to be a significant drop in attendance rates of those who are experiencing mental health difficulties. The student who is having difficulties may exhibit avoidant behaviours such that they no longer engage in day to day college life.
- Significant weight loss / weight gain
- Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
- Diminished ability to think or concentrate.
- Social isolation
- Changes in sleeping patterns