Uncle Sigmund has been responding to questions from Appalachian State University students, staff and faculty since 1992. Uncle Sigmund is named for the father of psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud, who lived from 1856 to 1939, in and around Vienna.
As an on-line counselor, Uncle Sigmund is an androgynous being whose consultants for mental health concerns have cumulative experience of over 250 years, currently holding four Ph.D. degrees, one Doctor of Psychology, ten Master’s degrees, and parenting experience from birth through college. Uncle Sigmund has experienced college life in colleges as small as 600 students and in universities of 40,000.
Moving away from home, getting along with a roommate, meeting new friends, finding the right partner, breaking up and making up, are all issues with which Uncle Sigmund has lived. General psychological and emotional adjustment and well-being, alcohol and drug use, being sexual but safe, abstinent but socially connected, living with herpes, preventing the spread of AIDS and other STD/s, helping friends with eating disorders, preventing rape – all these are issues to which Uncle Sigmund can respond.
Uncle Sigmund cannot replace face-to-face therapy with a mental health professional. Uncle Sigmund can provide information and responses based on a current research in the field. Uncle Sigmund will not usually be able to carry on a dialogue with you about your specific concern. Referral sources will be offered for on-campus and off-campus places for you to get help.
If you are in an emotional crisis, please do not rely on Uncle Sigmund for help; please come to the Counseling and Psychological Services Center on the first floor of Annas Student Services Building, down the hall from the post office.
If you are in crisis and need emergency services after hours, call campus police at 262-2150 and ask to speak to a counselor.