Barreira Clarifies Mental Illness

“Depression is as much a thinking problem as it is a mood problem,” a psychiatry professor told students at a discussion last night intended to reduce stigma about mental illness.

Paul J. Barreira, director of Behavioral Health and Academic Counseling for University Health Services, met with students in the Lowell House Junior Common Room yesterday for an information session called “Mental Illness 101.”

The discussion dealt with general definitions of mental illnesses, but did not extensively address their prevalence in a college setting or delineate the mental health resources currently available at Harvard.

Depression is the second most common type of mental illness. Lifetime prevalence of depression is 6 to 8 percent, whereas 40 percent of the population may have experienced depression at least once in their lives, Barreira told the eight students who attended.

“The entire physiological system is in shut-down mode,” Barreira said.

A 2004 Crimson poll found that 80 percent of Harvard undergraduates felt depressed at least once over the course of the year, and 10 percent said they had seriously considered committing suicide.

Although Harvard students may have heavy workloads, Barreira said that a recent national survey did not find Harvard students more likely to be depressed.

Depression is characterized by mood and appetite changes, sleep problems, and loss of energy.

“People develop really negative thinking that has no basis in reality” which seems rational to the sufferer, Barreira said.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness, affecting 11 percent of the population in a general medical setting, he said.

Panic attacks, another subset of anxiety disorder, are characterized by sweaty palms, palpitations and often a “feeling of impending doom,” Barreira said.

Panic attacks often consist of three phases starting with the initial attack, which is followed by stages of withdrawal and avoidance.

An extreme result of panic attacks is agoraphobia, in which sufferers “avoid everything,” in order to prevent experiencing the same stimulus of a past panic attack.

Emily R. Kaplan ’08-’09, public relations officer for the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Group, said that last night’s discussion was “held in the hopes that it might reduce the stigma surrounding certain mental illnesses.”