If you’re the parent of a college student – or a soon-to-be college student – their success is surely on your mind. You may be painfully aware that one out of four students will drop out of college by the second year, and nearly 40% will not complete college within 8 years of starting. At any given time, about one in three college students are seriously considering dropping out. The leading reasons identified are emotional stress (49%), personal mental health (41%), and cost of attendance (24%).
So the two leading causes of dropout are all about emotional well-being and mental health. Fortunately, we know why this happens, and what to do about it – whether the student already has the problem before college, or whether the problem arises while there.
Why it happens is largely because of trauma – in this case, broadly defined to include:
- major traumatic events such as physical or sexual abuse/assault, severe car crash, exposure to parental violence, etc.
- group of individually minor experiences that have a cumulative effect, such as neglect, bullying, discrimination, chronic medical issue, etc.
- significant losses
Trauma causes or makes worse most emotional and behavioral problems, including depression, anxiety, anger, school/work under-performance, substance abuse, addictions, etc. Trauma also magnifies other stressors, making the normal challenges of a transition to college more difficult.
What to do about it? Therapy – but not just any therapy. There are two main approaches to trauma treatment: symptom management, and trauma healing. Symptom management — possibly including self-management skills, calming activities, medication — can be useful, but requires ongoing effort, and the effects can be limited. Trauma healing methods such as EMDR typically lead to profound and durable benefit.
But even when a therapist is trained in a trauma healing method, the benefit can take months or years to achieve, and meanwhile the student may continue to suffer or even further deteriorate. Furthermore, dealing with the pressing issue of the day can dominate the therapy hour, so many therapy clients never get around to the trauma healing work.
These problems are overcome with intensive trauma-focused psychotherapy, in which the client works individually with their therapist for several full consecutive days. Typically about a year’s worth of work gets done in about a week, including motivational work, self-management skills, and a whole lot of trauma healing. Our own research on our intensives indicate a low dropout rate, with substantial reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms as well as presenting problems.
Here are a couple of (disguised) case examples of how intensives have been used to support students to succeed in college.
Cary: Using an intensive to prepare for college
“Cary” had struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder for most of his life, having been exposed to domestic violence as a child. The violence ended when he was nine and his parents divorced, but then there was a move, with associated school and social challenges. Although he was a good student, he had a short fuse and was easily dysregulated; then he would isolate in his room for hours playing video games until he calmed down. He also had intrusive memories at night, and trouble sleeping, which further disrupted his ability to focus on school work.
In anticipation of Cary leaving for college, his mother arranged an intensive for him, which took four days. In that time he worked through the childhood memories of domestic violence and its aftermath. The change was immediately evident: He did not routinely get overwhelmed anymore, and when he did need to retreat to his room to regulate, it only took a few minutes now. Also, no more intrusive memories, and his sleep improved. This left both Cary and his mother feeling much more confident about his pending college endeavor.
April: Using an intensive to recover from a trauma that occurred during college
“April” was doing well in her first year of college, but towards the end of the year she was raped by another student. She somehow made it through her final exams, but in the summer told her parents that she was afraid to go back to school. Unfortunately she declined therapy and decided she could handle it. She went back to school, but just a week into the new semester, saw her rapist in the cafeteria. Then she became increasingly distressed, and within a week, left school.
Her parents arranged an intensive for her, which took three days. She worked through some prior sexual harassment experiences, as well as the memory of the rape. She was able to start school again and was successful from there on.
These are not unusual cases. To the contrary, with intensives, such meaningful changes are typical. An intensive can enable the student to overcome their problem quickly, so they don’t have to lose time, and can make the most out of their college experience.
There are a lot of people out there offering intensives – but who knows what they’re actually doing? There are many different ways to conduct an intensive. So how to choose the right provider? In my opinion, intensive trauma-focused therapy should utilize a research-supported model such as those developed by PSYTREC or TICTI, featuring the most effective, efficient, and well tolerated of the research-supported trauma healing methods available, namely EMDR as well as PC and Flash.
With a qualified provider using a research-supported model and methods, intensives are reliable (high success rate), quick, and effective. If you are concerned for your student’s mental health and ability to succeed in college, intensives are an excellent option to consider.
