For the record...

[kellinator]

Apparently I am not as clear a writer as I hoped I was. I do not know how people are getting the idea that I think MIT should be dumbed down. Nor am I suggesting that students should be coddled and babied. My points are twofold. Let me spell them out in black and white (or purple, as the case may be in my LJ):

1. Refusing someone a position they are qualified for on no basis other than the fact that they have issues with mental health such as antidepressants or therapy is discrimination, pure and simple.
2. Institutions that provide physical health care (such as employers and universities) should have a moral, ethical, and in my opinion legal obligation to provide mental health care as well.

I would like to add, though this is more of an opinion than a firm belief, that the high-stress pressure-cooker environment so prevalent in our society, especially at the top universities and pretty much any sector that is high-powered, does little to increase productivity or knowledge, probably contributes to the sort of mental problems that cost billions each year in lost productivity, and to boot turns people into insufferable raging assholes.

EDIT: penguinicity makes a powerful point I forgot to mention: Statements like Dean Jones' are only going to discourage students who need help from getting it, creating even larger problems.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

A friend who's a pilot-in-training has told me something similar. It's death to your flying career (unofficially or officially; I don't know) to be on psychiatric medications, even for something simple. So does that mean you have a corps of naturally mentally healthy pilots in our skies? Nope! You have a bunch of people with untreated illnesses, because they're (rightfully) scared of being blacklisted. Oops.

[penguinicity.livejournal.com]

Officially. It's part of the FAA's regulations - taking any sort of psychotropic drug for any reason is medically disqualifying. If you stop, you can get your medical back but the process takes months of cutting through red tape.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Do you know if there's any sort of legitimate reason for that, or is it just a "drugs are bad, mmmkay?" kneejerk reaction? I'd sure rather have my pilots correctly medicated.

[penguinicity.livejournal.com]

I don't know for sure, but just speculating; the FAA tends to be pretty conservative as far as what it will and will not allow. There's a bit of folk wisdom floating around aviation circles that the medical examiner's job is to try to keep you out of the sky rather than let you in, and to treat them accordingly. For example, they have a list of approved drugs (for all conditions), rather than a list of disqualifying drugs since the approved list ends up being much shorter.

In this particular case, it's most likely an "all mental health conditions are bad, mmmkay?" attitude. For example, just seeing a psychologist is enough to cause a major headache (you can still be certified, but it involves a letter from the psychologist stating that you are fit, and your case has to be reviewed by the FAA chief medical examiner's office).

This has become a fairly major issue in the past couple of years, and there's been quite a bit of lobbying for the FAA to change the rules with regards to conditions like depression.

[ilexx.livejournal.com]

i think "correctly medicated" is part of the issue and problem that's umbrellaed under this generalization. there is a painful number of people out there who are INcorrectly medicated, or medicated instead of taught how to deal with stress and problems. there's a difference between legitimate chemical imbalances and spoiled/underdeveloped psyches, and the whole "drugs are bad, mmmmmkay?" generalization is a (poor, admittedly) reaction to the prozac bandaid generalization. NEITHER ONE IS THE CORRECT APPROACH.

again, the lady obviously has no way with words and should be duct taped at the mouth, but i seriously doubt that a school as huge as MIT is suddenly testing for prozac and turning people away.

[maida-mac.livejournal.com]

My rheumatologist had his father die while he was in medical school. He was treated by a psychologist and medications for depression for the total of one month. TWENTY YEARS later, it's still on his medical school records and follows him everywhere.

Stuff like that is utterly ridiculous.