Notable Publications
Marcia Morris, MD, is a psychiatrist at the University of Florida with over 20 years of experience providing care to university students. Dr. Morris is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Associate Program Director for Student Health Psychiatry. She writes a parenting blog for Psychology Today called "College Wellness: Promoting Happiness and Health in the College Years."
In articles and talks, she promotes preventive care and comprehensive treatment for mental illness in the college years and beyond. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, the Tampa Bay Times, The Conversation, Psychiatric Times, and Clinical Psychiatry News. She has appeared on Huffington Post Live and co-hosted a monthly radio show, Family Matters, on WOCA 96.3 FM/1370 AM in Ocala, Florida.
A board-certified psychiatrist and Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, she has published original research on suicide as well as obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Morris has made several presentations on college mental health, eating disorders, anxiety and depression at national professional meetings.
MARCIA MORRIS
Help students fight loneliness
Your child is starting her freshman year of college in a week or two, and you feel compelled to hug her, hold her, tell her how much you love her and warn her of certain dangers to avoid in the college world.
Walking alone at night, binge drinking, getting separated from friends at a party, accepting a drink from someone she doesn't know. We warn our daughters and sons of actions to avoid, and fortunately most students do not meet with catastrophe. But we need to pay attention to a more common, distressing and potentially dangerous occurrence: loneliness. Read More...
Dear parent, your child has had a psychotic break
I sit in my small office at the university counseling center, sighing as I pick up the phone to make the call that I always dread. I have worked as a psychiatrist with college students for 20 years, and this part never gets easier. One, two, three rings, and the mother of a student who had been in my office minutes earlier answers the phone.
I introduce myself and then deliver the news: “I’ve had to hospitalize your son, Jacob.”
“What are you talking about?” she says. “There’s nothing wrong with my son.” Read more...
Four years from now, your child will be at her commencement. Here are steps for you to take now."
Four years from now, your child will be at her commencement. Here are steps for you to take now
It’s your daughter’s high school graduation. In a cap and gown, she stands beside a podium and proudly takes her diploma, beaming over the fact that she is moving on to a new, exciting phase of life.
Eyes tearing up and many disparate thoughts whirling through your head, you snap her picture.
Here, I would like to insert a different thought – a question you need to ask yourself: “What do I want my child to be like four years from now, when she is graduating from college?” Read more...