Jan. 23, 2024

By Courtney Wise

Greetings, MindSite News Readers. In today’s Daily: a look at a Massachusetts university’s efforts to address a campus suicide crisis. A Canadian nonprofit seeks to relieve the mental stress of dying from terminally ill cancer patients with the help of psychedelics. And Missisisppi lawmakers vow to introduce legislation that will prohibit holding mentally ill people in jail who have not been criminally charged.

Plus, a conversation with historian Benjamin Breen whose new book, Tripping on Utopia, tells the story of pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead’s early research into psychedelic substances.

How Worcester Polytechnic Institute endured the valley of death

The deaths at Worcester Polytechnic Institute began in July 2021. An undergraduate student was reported dead – suicide – and the university’s notice about their passing read like a canned response. Katherine Foo, an assistant professor who once taught the student, told the New York Times she was crushed by the news. Like her, the student was Chinese American and the shared identity made her feel connected to the pressures he faced. Now that he was gone, she combed through old communications to see if there was a sign she’d missed. Had she overlooked a call for help in her course evaluations? She felt lost and unsettled. How could she process the death herself, let alone address it with students? Foo swallowed her worries and pushed forward, preparing for the school year. 

Then, another student died by suicide just before classes started. And yet another was gone by September. WPI was aghast; a collective sense of dread over the campus became full-fledged alarm. What was going on, and how could they stop it? Four more students died by January 2022. In total, seven students died in six months, leaving the university fumbling to address the trauma, the Times reported. Fearing more deaths for talking about them too much, the university organized no vigils or memorials, which in turn triggered a community backlash. The string of suicides was unheard-of: crushing, mortifying and astonishing. 

Students formed their own group, the Mental Health Committee, and launched with a ‘support walk’ to demonstrate resilience. “It felt like life or death,” said student Brynne Scott MacWilliams. “It felt like the life of the student body was on our shoulders.” Faculty and administration felt the same. Charlie Morse, WPI’s dean of student wellness who served as the school’s director of counseling from 2006 to 2021, said that two students died by suicide in that 15-year period – a number much lower than the national average – until July 2021. His voice trembled as he spoke to a reporter about what campus felt like 3 years ago. 

Faculty and staff decided to deal with the matter in the same way they teach students: through project-based learning that requires them to develop and roll out practical solutions to real-world problems – in this case, creating an emergency task force, analyzing data and making recommendations. Riverside Trauma Center was enlisted to do an independent review. The college moved forward with written surveys, town halls for students and parents, listening sessions, and smaller conversations with affinity groups, including Black, Asian, LBGTQ+ and first-generation students..

Their findings: Everyone was burnt out and exhausted from the stress of the pandemic. What deadly new variants were around the corner? When would it all end? Students reported feeling that academic excellence was required at the expense of their health and humanity. Faculty felt overwhelmed and ill-equipped to deal with the threat of suicide. Changes to address these issues would have to be a campus-wide effort. 

Two years later, there has been a transformation. More counselors were hired, more mental health trainings are available to faculty and staff, and student “friendship building” programs expanded.  The student wellness center, which Morse leads, runs a Care Team responsible for a same-day response to students flagged as at risk – including quickly contacting the students’ family, dean, professors, and the counseling center to coordinate support. It’s an all hands on deck program; even a custodian attended one of the Care Team’s trainings to learn how to spot signs of trouble, Morse said. As Jean King, who co-led the task force, told the Times: “I think all of us have to be able to say to each other, and even to the people who are suffering: ‘This is difficult. This is difficult for me. I feel you. I’ll try to help but know that I may not be perfect.’ We all have to take that up…I think that’s what community is — coming together and saying: ‘I’m vulnerable, just like you are. I’m trying. I’m not going to leave you alone.’”

Psilocybin-assisted therapy shows promise for terminally ill cancer patients in Canada

Knowing that death is imminent can inspire greater feelings of connection with family and friends or push people to do things they’ve been putting off. It can also trigger anxiety and fear. “It tugs at the heart all the time,” Brian Meyer told the Washington Post last summer. His stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis was causing him intense anxiety, but by November, he’d undergone a change. Instead of worrying, Meyer felt an enhanced calm.

He credited the change to the 25-milligram dose of psilocybin he took in mid-August at a therapy session – part of a clinical trial – with nine other terminally ill patients at a nonprofit called Roots to Thrive. The Vancouver Island-based nonprofit provides cancer patients who have terminal diagnoses with psilocybin-induced psychedelic trips to reduce fear and angst around death. Patients must receive a medical clearance in order to participate. They also attend weeks of Zoom group therapy sessions before and after their psychedelic experience. 

Roots to Thrive takes a unique approach to assessing the benefits of psychedelics to address mental health concerns. Rather than administer psilocybin to patients in individual sessions, it provides the treatment in groups. “The group process in psychedelic-assisted therapy allows for a shared experience that helps people realize they are not alone in experiencing difficult emotions, symptoms or challenging life circumstances,” said Pam Kryskow, the center’s medical director. Despite some difficulties, Meyer appreciated the journey, reporting an intense spiritual connection with the nurse who touched his hands to guide him to the restroom. “I have a way more sensitive outlook. I feel more love toward people,” he said last November. He died three weeks later, with his wife reporting that, “He remained calm, peaceful and joyful” to the end. 

Mississippi lawmakers challenge jail as a ‘default place’ for mentally ill people awaiting treatment

It’s typical for Mississippians in need of psychiatric treatment to be held in jail, with no criminal charges, as they await a mental health bed. Several state legislators vowed to introduce bills to end that practice this session. “We can’t send people with mental illness to jail because the county doesn’t want to pay” for hospitalization, said Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi. “You have to look for every other alternative before jail would become an option,” he told Mississippi Today. Felsher is particularly concerned about the practice that keeps people jailed for lack of health insurance. 

Last year, lawmakers rejected a bill that would prohibit a person with mental illness from being jailed for an inability to pay for treatment. Counties, some of which already do so, would cover the bill in a private hospital if no beds are available in a publicly funded state hospital or crisis stabilization unit. Costs would be capped at the Medicaid reimbursement rate. Felsher said he plans to reintroduce the legislation this session. The biggest concern is a fight with counties that would rather jail people rather than wait for a state-funded bed to cut costs. A mere $40 per day covers jail for one person in Lee County. If the same person is sent to a private hospital awaiting treatment, the county has to cover $500 per day. It’s a price Lee County Chancery Clerk Bill Benson doesn’t believe leaders are willing to pay. 

In other news…

What do you know about Margaret Mead? Through her work as a cultural anthropologist, Mead and her husband Gregory Bateson envisioned a utopian society supported by plant-based psychedelics. “They saw science as something which was responsible for some of the bad things in the world,” historian Benjamin Breen told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, “but also [as] something which could be a tool for fixing the world or healing a sick society.” In this 37-minute conversation, Breen speaks with Gross about how Mead and Bateson’s research into psychedelic substances inspired secret experiments by the CIA and helped to usher in the psychedelic era. 

Growing numbers of men in the US say they don’t have any close friends. With loneliness now a matter of public health, Geoff Bennett traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for PBS NewsHour to meet men who once felt alone but found a way to build meaningful connections. In the 8-minute story, Bennett meets Quincy Winston, founder of the Professional Black Men’s Friend Group, which began after Winston’s wife Latoya told him he had to get a social life beyond her. He also speaks with Phil Johnson, director emeritus of the U.S. Men’s Shed Association, a nonprofit which provides older men a place to relax, build something, and connect about anything on their hearts, including issues of mental health.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and connect in English or Spanish. If you’re a veteran press 1. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing dial 711, then 988. Services are free and available 24/7.