DBSAlliance

In the coming weeks, we'll be talking about a sneaking phenomenon in which college, that fabled "best time of your life" is a time filled with despair and hardship. A sizable portion of students in college struggle with all sorts of things like depression, substance abuse, body image issues and more...and that's all before you even consider the immense academic pressures. Phil and and Aime Lynn get the ball rolling by exploring two sides of the coin that may play into some of these issues: what people expect when they go to college, and what reality actually gives them. An ideal conversation to have between someone that will be going to college in just two years and someone that's dealt with a mood disorder while actually in college.

The crew continues their discussion of college and how some people don't necessarily find it to be the greatest time of their lives. This time, we focus on common things that are often big issues for people making the transition into college.

After 30 years as a Psychiatrist working with college students in New York, Dr. David Leibow has seen a lot of the ups and downs of college mental health. Leibow is on the faculty of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in addition to being a psychiatrists at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He has a new book out called What to Do When College is Not the Best Time of Your Life, a book that looks at the typical things that befall more than just a few college students, acknowledging that for a large number of students, college is anything but grand. He joins us today.

Chris and Phil talk about support networks. What they are, where to find them and some ups and downs about them. They help tons of people every year, and now with the internet, there's virtually a group for every type of problem one wants combat

We all take on a project to try to improve ourselves here on Flipswitch. Today, Phil updates us on where his personal improvement project of not being late to school is at on the progress meter.

Chris and Aime Lynn talk about her dealings with a number of different types of support networks. We talk about some of her good and not so good experiences with both in person and online groups.

Most people think advocacy is hard to do and a bit scary, the whole "what kind of a difference can I make?" 17 year old Hillary shows us that little actions can mean so much.

Aimee Lynn and Chris talk about the features of strong support networks, noting that people can value different things.

In our continuing discussion of support networks, we revisit an interview with an anonymous listener that took matters into her own hands when she could not find a support network for people living with bipolar disorder on her campus. She didn't settle for that answer. Instead, she boldly created her own group, one that became a meeting point for others on her campus.

We delve further into the topic of support networks by examining in greater depth online support networks.