Ask Dr. Dombeck: Psychotherapy and Mental Health Questions
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I supervise a private dormitory for a public college, so I have the opportunity to have contact with a lot of college students. It seems like almost every year I have to handle situations where I am told by my staff or residents that one of the residents appears to have a mental disorder which is affecting the lives of the other residents. I need to be sure that all the residents have a comfortable place to live and are not feeling threatened by one resident, so I have to handle the situation as best as I can. In the last few years, I have had 3 different residents show signs of quite severe paranioa. Is paranioa being diagnosed a lot in college-aged people? Even if it is not that common, I'm dealing with such a person right now and I'm just wondering what a good way would be to bring it up with the student's parents. I don't want to alarm them, but I do think it's important for the parents to know what his behavior has been like recently since they don't see him as regularly as my staff and other residents do. Any advice on how to handle this situation would be appreciated. Thanks.

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