Statistically the winter season sees the most cases of seasonal depression.

According to medicinenet.com, the colder weather and decreasing hours of daylight cause a severely adverse reaction in many people.

Winter not only brings snow, but in many cases depression too. Symptoms such as anxiety, anxiousness, confusion, loneliness or the feeling of being lost tend to be indicators of depression, which in the long run might even lead some to have thoughts of suicide.

According to Suicide.org, suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students and the number one cause of suicide for college students is untreated depression.

With everything a student juggles it can be very easy to fall into a state of depression. The University, however, is fully capable of aiding students in combatting these uneasy thoughts and feelings. All a student has to do is walk into the counseling center, request assistance and the counselors will be more than eager to help.

According to Dr. Lari Jackson, a counselor at the University Counseling Center, when people have suicidal feelings, it is usually related to depression. She said the Counseling Center has many resources which can help people who are depressed deal with those feelings.

More importantly, she said the counselors can help people try to figure out the problems stimulating depression and then provide the correct treatment and prevention.

‘Suicidal thoughts are not uncommon with depression,’ Jackson said. ‘We have people come in fairly regularly reporting they have thought about suicide.’

Jackson said there are many issues a college student must deal with which could be a cause of depression.

‘Multiple factors cause these feelings, but typically when someone is distressed their stress gradually increases which ultimately lead to those sorts of thoughts. We want to help students cope with their stress and are able to help aid through psychiatry, medication or whatever is necessary to help them,’ Jackson said.

She also said if people are feeling that bad, the door is open and the Counseling Center encourages them to walk in any time if they are having bad or suicidal thoughts.

If the center is not open, students can contact Campus Police (without revealing need of a counselor) and leave their contact information so they can contact the counselor on-call for help.

Students cannot set up an appointment online for counseling.

Jackson said that she urges people who are feeling distressed to pay a visit to the Counseling Center because they want to help students however they can.

According to the Counseling Center Web site, counseling is an interaction between a person who is ‘stuck’ in some way and in need of help from another person who is trained in helping them get ‘unstuck.’

The Counseling Center is on campus to provide students with a safe environment and professionals are available to talk to students about their problems, no matter how minor or serious.

Counselors at the Counseling Center are trained to take approaches tailored to fit each student’s individual needs and provide assistance and stabilization for a student’s unique problems.