Driven to Depression: Overachieving College Student with Recurrent Depressive Episodes

Depressive disorders are common in the adolescent and young adult years. The stressors of transition to college may cause them to recur in students who have had a depressive episode before starting college. This chapter describes the case of a young man with a history of depression in high school who had recurrences of his depression while at college which resulted in hospitalization and breaks in education. This case illustrates the challenges of remaining the treating psychiatrist when patients go to college far away from home and have a recurrence of their symptoms. The discussion focuses on understanding how to engage parents and students in selecting a college that will not put them at risk for a recurrence of depression, how to engage students and families in treatment, and how to access local mental health services to remain healthy when in college. The literature on depression in college students is reviewed.