The Campus Cure: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students

This volume is targeted toward parents of college-aged children facing mental health challenges. Morris (Univ. of Florida) presents 12 chapters organized into sections that explore problems, pressures, and crises. The problems section includes separate chapters on anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, and academic failure to thrive; other issues the text tackles include perfectionism, financial stress, sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and eating disorders. Each chapter opens with a case study describing a student in distress, provides an overview of the disorder or issue, and offers tangible suggestions for parents. . . What makes this book exceptionally valuable is its intended audience. Though faculty and staff can benefit from this resource, its primary focus is parents, and it provides practical guidance to those worrying about their children. Much the way Coburn and Treeger's iconic Letting Go provided a road map for parents sending their children off to college, this text provides foundational information about the mental health issues common to today’s college students.



Summing Up: Recommended. All readers., CHOICE

This parent’s guide should be required reading for all who worry about their college-age kids running into trouble with alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and other mental-health issues. Morris, a psychiatrist at the University of Florida, authoritatively explains the problems, the pressures, and the crises, including sexual assault, psychosis, and such alarming trends as ‘drunkorexia,’ in which students starve themselves or purge before consuming alcohol so they can get intoxicated more quickly. Morris also discusses how the rising college costs add to student stress and increasing suicide rates. A big problem is that 18- to 25-year-olds hesitate to get treatment because they can’t afford it, or they worry about being asked to leave school or fear being involuntarily committed or forced to go to the hospital. To nip trouble in the bud, Morris urges parents to review end-of-semester grades and monitor spending. Never mind warnings about helicopter parenting; Morris tells mothers and fathers to get more involved in their children’s mental health and convincingly argues that it’s their duty to be their kids’ ‘mentor, guide, coach and cheerleader.’, Booklist

This book is very clearly written and understandable. Parents of college students should find it useful in dealing with a variety of possible issues, such as failing grades or antisocial behavior that their children might face., American Reference Books Annual

Dr. Morris has crafted a well-written and clear primer for parents of college students in the realm of mental health. This important work guides families through very real and often disabling issues that arise every day on campuses across this country. With interesting and appropriate vignettes and strategies, Dr. Morris helps parents and students learn how to work together with mental health professionals to allow students to achieve good mental health and their fullest academic potential. The practical information that she provides will help everyone smooth the difficult edges that can unfold along the way. I will definitely recommend this book to families of my own college age patients. -- Susan R. Cohen, M.D., F.A.A.P

The Campus Cure: A Parent’s Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students is a must-read to understand the academic, emotional, social, and psychiatric stressors that affect college age children. Dr. Marcia Morris writes with great clinical wisdom and gives parents take-away tools to identify, prevent, and seek resources for mental health concerns. With the onset of many mental health disorders coinciding with this age population, this comprehensive guide is certain to provide early detection and facilitate immediate treatment, which are vital for well-being. -- Deborah Serani, PsyD, Professor at Adelphi University and author of Living with Depression

Marcia Morris translated her years of experience treating college students into an easy -to -understand guide for parents. I was very impressed, both as a mother of college-age children and a psychiatrist, with the amount of useful information in the book. It manages to simultaneously paint an accurate picture and offer guidance and advice. It is a must-have book for parents that are struggling with a child who is being treated for mental illness while in college. -- Ludmila De Faria, MD

We live in a very competitive world and, today, college students have more pressures and obstacles to face than ever before. The Campus Cure is an excellent resource that clearly indicates the challenges that this age group faces and how parents can recognize the warning signs to help support their children along the way. This book should be every parent's go-to resource for guiding children through this exhilarating, yet pressure-packed time in their lives. -- Douglas Haddad, Award-Winning Educator and author of The Ultimate Guide to Raising Teens and Tweens

Marcia Morris, MD, is a psychiatrist at the University of Florida with over 20 years of experience providing care to university students. She is currently an Associate Professor with the College of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Associate Program Director of Student Health Care Center Psychiatry. Dr. Morris writes a parenting blog for Psychology Today called “College Wellness: Promoting Happiness and Health in the College Years” (. In articles and talks, she promotes preventive care and comprehensive treatment for mental illness in the college years and beyond. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, the Tampa Bay Times, The Conversation, Psychiatric Times, and Clinical Psychiatry News. She has appeared on Huffington Post Live and co-hosted a monthly radio show, Family Matters, on WOCA 96.3 FM/1370 AM in Ocala, Florida. A board-certified psychiatrist and Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, she has published original research on suicide as well as obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Morris has made several presentations on college mental health, eating disorders, anxiety and depression at national professional meetings.