I agree with you about that kid whom after 2 years of college was dosed up on lithium. I think my generation has the tendency to exaggerate symptoms slightly and thus is prescribe some type of SSRI or AAP. Like you said, I am not a psychiatrist either, but I believe there are too many psychiatrist out there delving out Rx's and poly-pharmacy is normal now. In a way, i feel like us college students are experiencing stress, just as you must have had when you were in college, but todays society is so different from when your generation was in college. Todays students experiencing stress now have access to mental health resources and are encouraged to seek help. This is good, but what is happening is that students are now believing that their stress is a mental illness, not your fault, and can be treated, and thus have no problem taking antidepressants, benzos, or any other psychiatric drug under the sun if prescribed by a doctor. Sadly, many patients who are on medication are not nearly informed enough about what they are taking, why they are taking it, is it really necessary, it is effective, and mostly how the medication works & what class of medication they are taking. I blame this partly on the psychiatrist, because it is their responsibility to inform patient of potential side effects and how the drug acts, why you need it, etc. Yet it seems most have ceased doing this and instead just encourage their patients to read the medication pamphlet that comes when you pick up your medication(s) from the pharmacy, which list almost any and every side effect. I wonder how many people just completely disregard them and don't bother reading anything.
I'm telling you man, there is a growing minority of psychiatrist who really over medicate and iatrogenically harm hundreds of thousands. These are the same psychiatrists that blame their iatrogenesis (whether it be a result of misdiagnosis, over-medication, or irresponsible prescribing medications that are specifically approved for shot-term use only, or giving a patient an antipsychotic for sleep and not informing them that this medication is used in schizophrenics or about the horrible side effects they can cause) on the patient by telling them that their reemerging symptoms are not from cessation of some strong psychiatric medication, but is indicative that you are truly depressed, anxious, or whatever, and then convinces them to go back on the pill