Mental Health Now Campus Concern

This is the first part in a two-part series concerning the challenges students face in dealing with various forms of depression.

Now is truly the winter of our discontent. Recruiting, senior theses and the stress of shopping week aside, students at Harvard are battling something larger--the winter doldrums.

The days are short, sunlight and warmth distant and the muddy, slippery streets of Cambridge have never seemed more dreary. Cambridge is currently the type of climate that experts say often exacerbates feelings of loneliness and depression.

Dr. Randolphe Catlin, chief of mental health at University Health Services (UHS), says that the academic calendar influences periods of peak depression. Catlin says approximately 300 students have called the free UHS depression screening hot line this year, and of that group about 30 were diagnosed as clinically depressed.

Catlin attributes some winter depression to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) a disease which strikes when people don't get enough direct sunlight. He also says depression occurs at times during the fall or winter when students attempt to tackle a full schedule of new classes and commitments.

Spotlight on Mental Health

But feeling depressed at the start of a new semester doesn't necessarily mean you are suffering from the clinical condition. A continuous feeling of depression and prolonged pessimism are the most common signs of depression. Other symptoms include noticeable appetite increase or decrease, sleep disturbances, decreased sexual drive and the tendency to be easily distracted.

But among the student body depression is less easily defined and as a result, stereotypes abound.

Since Sinedu Tadesse '96 murdered her roommate,Trang P. Ho '96 and subsequent investigationsindicated Tadesse was severely depressed,University Health Services (UHS) have been underscrutiny. In her recently published book,Halfway Heaven, former Harvard tutorMelanie R. Thernstrom '86 placed much of the blamefor Tadesse's failure to receive adequatetreatment on the Harvard advising and healthservice systems.

Some students today agree that the systems needto be reviewed and modified to be more sensitiveto student needs.

"We could go two weeks without coming to a mealand the tutors would never know," says a sophomorein John Winthrop House.

As a result of the recent suicide of LeverettHouse resident Annelle Fitzpatrick '00, who wassuffering from depression, Harvard mental healthservices have once again attracted attention. Evenmore basic than Thernstrom's concern--whatservices are available to whom--is the difficultycampus authorities and students themselves seem tohave in defining just what depression is.

Defining Depression

Recent efforts to address this problem bystudents such as Allison D. Kent '99-'00 and arenewed commitment by UHS to seek out students whoare embarrassed or unsure about their depressionmay help remedy the situation.

Kent's is an unusual journey to triumph overmental illness, one with as many highs as lows, astory that nevertheless has a positive ending.Diagnosed with manic-depression her first year,Kent felt uncomfortable telling others about herillness.

Although she received medication whicheventually helped treat her condition, she wasencouraged by the Freshman Dean's Office and UHSto leave Harvard within six months of her arrivalhere.

Kent was disappointed with this response fromthe College administration--a seeming ignoranceconcerning the verity of her own condition--andthe resources available to all students withmental illness.

"UHS meant well," she says, but notes that "ahalf hour appointment once every two weeks is notenough....They [UHS] often try to pass out drugsreally quickly."

But Kent didn't just talk about fixing theHarvard health care system--she took action. Uponher return to Harvard last year, Kent recognizedthe prevalence of depression and other mentalillnesses among the student body and decided tostart an unofficial support group.

By that time increasingly open about her mentalillness, Kent published a feature article inDiversity & Distinction magazine about herexperiences as a first year student withdepression. After the article was published, Kentsays more than two hundred students contacted herwith a litany of personal stories about their ownbattles with depression and mental illnesses.

"The stigma was changing somewhat and peoplebegan pouring their hearts out to me," Kent says.

"You think that you are the only one, that youare completely isolated," she says.

Thanks to Kent, now in addition to theresources available through UHS, Room 13, theBureau of Study Counsel and House tutors, theMental Health and Support Group also providesinformal services to students who may be sufferingfrom depression. An unofficial gathering ofstudents, the group was founded as a forum forstudents to discuss problems or concerns relatedto mental health and Kent encourages studentsinterested in attending to e-mail her.IllustrationSafia Jama

Since Sinedu Tadesse '96 murdered her roommate,Trang P. Ho '96 and subsequent investigationsindicated Tadesse was severely depressed,University Health Services (UHS) have been underscrutiny. In her recently published book,Halfway Heaven, former Harvard tutorMelanie R. Thernstrom '86 placed much of the blamefor Tadesse's failure to receive adequatetreatment on the Harvard advising and healthservice systems.

Some students today agree that the systems needto be reviewed and modified to be more sensitiveto student needs.

"We could go two weeks without coming to a mealand the tutors would never know," says a sophomorein John Winthrop House.

As a result of the recent suicide of LeverettHouse resident Annelle Fitzpatrick '00, who wassuffering from depression, Harvard mental healthservices have once again attracted attention. Evenmore basic than Thernstrom's concern--whatservices are available to whom--is the difficultycampus authorities and students themselves seem tohave in defining just what depression is.

Defining Depression

Recent efforts to address this problem bystudents such as Allison D. Kent '99-'00 and arenewed commitment by UHS to seek out students whoare embarrassed or unsure about their depressionmay help remedy the situation.

Kent's is an unusual journey to triumph overmental illness, one with as many highs as lows, astory that nevertheless has a positive ending.Diagnosed with manic-depression her first year,Kent felt uncomfortable telling others about herillness.

Although she received medication whicheventually helped treat her condition, she wasencouraged by the Freshman Dean's Office and UHSto leave Harvard within six months of her arrivalhere.

Kent was disappointed with this response fromthe College administration--a seeming ignoranceconcerning the verity of her own condition--andthe resources available to all students withmental illness.

"UHS meant well," she says, but notes that "ahalf hour appointment once every two weeks is notenough....They [UHS] often try to pass out drugsreally quickly."

But Kent didn't just talk about fixing theHarvard health care system--she took action. Uponher return to Harvard last year, Kent recognizedthe prevalence of depression and other mentalillnesses among the student body and decided tostart an unofficial support group.

By that time increasingly open about her mentalillness, Kent published a feature article inDiversity & Distinction magazine about herexperiences as a first year student withdepression. After the article was published, Kentsays more than two hundred students contacted herwith a litany of personal stories about their ownbattles with depression and mental illnesses.

"The stigma was changing somewhat and peoplebegan pouring their hearts out to me," Kent says.

"You think that you are the only one, that youare completely isolated," she says.

Thanks to Kent, now in addition to theresources available through UHS, Room 13, theBureau of Study Counsel and House tutors, theMental Health and Support Group also providesinformal services to students who may be sufferingfrom depression. An unofficial gathering ofstudents, the group was founded as a forum forstudents to discuss problems or concerns relatedto mental health and Kent encourages studentsinterested in attending to e-mail her.IllustrationSafia Jama