DEPRESSED AND ANXIOUS

For thirty years, Kyle M. Carney ’73, a licensed independent clinical social worker, has worked with Harvard students at the Mount Auburn Counseling Center in Harvard Square.

Harvard students do not suffer from mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at a rate higher than the general population, according to Carney, but a “high prevalence” of anxiety and depression is linked to achievement.

“All of a sudden when they arrive at Harvard, they are no longer ‘a big fish in a small pond’ and it can be very stressful and difficult to cope. That, combined with moving away from home, sometimes halfway across the country, leaving friends and family, can be quite difficult,” says Carney.

Undergraduates are not alone. Carney notes that many of the stresses facing Harvard College students—including adjustment to the competitive atmosphere and anxiety about their next steps after Harvard—are amplified among the many post-docs and tenure-track professors who also seek treatment at the center, which is not affiliated with the University.

According to a year-end survey conducted by UHS last spring, one quarter of Harvard College students reported symptoms of anxiety and 18.7 percent reported symptoms of depression. Three and a half percent of College students admitted to having suicidal thoughts.

“Environments in which students can perform at very high levels academically while also engaging in a broad array of time-consuming extra-curricular pursuits can result in unnecessary stress,” a UHS statement says as a reflection on the numbers. “This is a phenomenon occurring throughout higher education, and Harvard is no exception.”

BATTLE WOUNDS

Mackenzie attempted suicide at home after a difficult sophomore year. Having done well academically in high school, she felt that people would not take her seriously when she said she was having trouble with tests and work at Harvard.

“I was forced to live a lie,” she says. “I was hiding my struggle. I felt that if I can’t finish something, I’m a bad student. I’m a bad person.”

Though she made close friends and enjoyed the fact that freshman year allowed her to explore, Mackenzie’s feelings toward Harvard changed as her academic struggles intensified.

“It got more difficult to answer if you enjoy your time at Harvard,” says the current senior, who took time off after her suicide attempt.

Alexa, who has also attempted suicide and who suffers from bipolar disorder—mostly depressive, which she jokes is “less fun”—feels that it is not Harvard itself that brings out mental illness.

“People like us are often intelligent and creative and also prone to mental illness. If you get thousands of us together, it’s likely that there are going to be issues,” she says. “My friends are all crazy in different ways.”

A fan of the University’s mental health offerings, Alexa is grateful for the medical help she has received. However, she worries that a culture of perfection has for many students made reaching out for help tantamount to surrender.

“The likelihood is that every other person you’re sitting next to is dealing with some of the same issues you are,” she says quietly. “But people don’t necessarily know that or talk about it. There is a culture of keeping going, wearing your battle wounds.”

—Staff writer Quinn D. Hatoff can be reached at quinnhatoff@college.harvard.edu.