Sigma Chi host wellness seminar focusing on stress, mental health

Every year, approximately 50,000 people commit suicide. And every year those between ages 10 and 24 make up 15% of those suicides, with suicides being the second leading cost of death in that demographic after accidental injury. 

On April 21, 2012, LSU freshman Micheal Keller Zibilich Jr. committed suicide at the age of 19. Last week, his parents Michael Zibilich Sr. and Gale Zibilich came to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to tell their only son’s story. The Wellness Seminar was organized by the Sigma Chi fraternity of which Zibilich Sr. and his son were both members.

Zibilich Sr. described his son as “an accomplished athlete, a whitewater kayak expert, and most most importantly, a loving son to his father and mother. He was a man of character, selflessness, enthusiasm, and leadership.” Hewas a caring friend and an integral member of his fraternity even as a freshman. 

Zibilich Sr. emphasized that his son never displayed any of the typical warning signs of suicidal ideation. No depression, hopelessness, risky behavior or drug and alcohol abuse. To everyone, Keller seemed to be a healthy, happy young man. Which was why his death was all the more shocking. Keller left no note, no explanation or reason for what he did that night in his dorm room.

But stories like that of Zibilich Jr. or Basil Brown are not rarities. And Brown is not the only one of UL Lafayette’s students to take their own life. In 2020, Robert Jones, a UL Lafayette student and member of Sigma Chi committed suicide, and his passing was one of the main reasons Sigma Chi organized the seminar.

But why do these deaths keep happening? Why are the supposedly “best years of our lives” so often riddled with loss and grief for our friends? 

Countless things can lead a person to make the decision to take their own life: mental illness, social isolation, physical illness, hopelessness, drug/alcohol abuse and countless other factors can be part of that final decision.

 “Most suicidal people desperately want to live, they just are unable to see alternatives at that moment. They do not want to die, they just want the pain to stop. The experts will tell you there’s no necessary single cause of suicide… it occurs when stressors exceed the coping abilities of someone suffering from a mental health condition, either long term… or even in the short tem,” Zibilich Sr. said.

Isolation, risky behavior, drug and alcohol abuse are just some of the things that can put someone at risk for suicide. And when students arrive at college they are often away from home for the first time, forced to make a new support network while also being exposed to drugs, alcohol and other risky behaviors. Additionally students also have to tackle immense academic and financial stress.

College is by its nature a multi-stressor environment, “You experience stress both externally and internally, and those pressures to be perfect in every academic and social endeavor can lead to extreme stress that can escalate to distress, anxiety, depression, and ultimately self-harm,” Zibilich Sr. said.

A study by a research team in Poland looking at medical students would agree. It found that “chronic stress and anxiety have a negative influence on mental health and [the results] also confirm a relation to suicidal thinking in medical students.” 

The study goes on to say that those in undergraduate school, who have not had the time to develop coping mechanisms, are even more vulnerable to chronic stress and suicidal ideation.

Many who came to college are promised parties, friendship and self discovery. While many surely find those, what most highschool seniors do not expect is the levels of stress one will have to become accustomed to. In a single day one can go from agonizing over the grade of a single quiz to having an existential breakdown about one’s future.

But stories like that of Zibilich Jr. or Basil Brown are not rarities. In 2021, Robert Jones, a UL Lafayette student and member of Sigma Chi committed suicide, and his passing was one of the main reasons Sigma Chi organized the seminar. Universities must be places where young people come not only to learn, but to be safe, supported and heard.