Doris Iarovici

In the midst of a mental health epidemic among college students, Doris Iarovici explains why this is happening now and what we can do about it.

College student mental health has been in decline since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which then led to a doubling of incidences of youth anxiety and depression symptoms. The past decade's breakneck rate of technological change—with the widespread adoption of virtual classrooms, smartphones, AI, and social media—has led to new mental health challenges as well as novel opportunities for treatment.

In Coping on Campus, Doris Iarovici, MD, discusses students' lifestyle issues and psychiatric concerns using case vignettes to explore a variety of interventions related to substance abuse, relationship difficulties, eating disorders, sleep issues, depression and anxiety, and perfectionism. Included is a guide to making emergency assessments, from risk classification and hospitalization to public safety and communication within and outside the campus community.

This revised and updated guide covers a multitude of changes across today's college campuses. Gen Z students bring new dynamics to campus and mental health treatment, and more students identify as non-binary or gender diverse. New chapters tackle the virtual campus, the mental health challenges of student-athletes, and the effects of trigger warnings, cancel culture, and free speech debates on campus. The legalization of cannabis in many states, new drug delivery systems such as vaping devices, and a growing interest in psychedelics have changed the landscape of substance use disorder treatment. Models of care have undergone dramatic shifts, including a pivot to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, new hybrid treatment models, app-based approaches, and stepped care models.

By turns wrenching, transcendent, and haunting, these rich stories follow characters whose lives are upended by death, estrangement, and loss—and the ways they must negotiate loneliness and absence to rebuild their new realities. In intimate portraits, a psychiatrist analyzes the missed signs of her stepson's dangerous addiction, a resentful boy seeks revenge against his stepmother, a surgeon confronts his failed marriages, an artist searches for a new identity in widowhood, and a young dancer plots to escape a manipulative older partner.

Woven through this slim and powerful volume are astute observations on how pain and grief can be inherited from one generation to the next. With tenderness and honesty, Doris Iarovici explores the plunging depths of the human experience, lingering on moments of familial warmth and joy but never shying away from conflict and tension. Minus One reveals a glimmer of hope and possibility, even in our darkest times.

“In quietly powerful prose reminiscent of Anne Tyler, Doris Iarovici examines and then pierces the heart of the American dream in her debut collection. Mothers and daughters, doctors and teachers and maids, immigrants and others--Iarovici deftly slips behind closed curtains into the truth of their lives, recording their sacrifices and hopes and illuminating the hard divergence between dreams and reality. These poignant, beautifully written stories will haunt you long after the last page is turned."