UCLA Blues

  Illustration by HINGYI KHONG/Daily Bruin

By Stella Chu
Daily Bruin Contributor

Of all UCLA undergraduate and graduate students visiting Student
Psychological Services, 23 percent are seeking treatment for
depression, according to William Prescott, a psychologist and
associate director of SPS.

“Depression certainly is a widespread problem among young
adults,” said Jo Ann Dawson, staff physician and Director of
Primary Care at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center.
“Graduate students and undergraduate students alike suffer
because of their demanding schedules and pressure.”

With the onslaught of finals, midterms and term papers, students
find themselves in a stress continuum that progresses from students
feeling busy to feeling overwhelmed, according to Dawson.

“I think students have made it that way,” she
said. “UCLA students have outstanding
credentials. I think they wear themselves out.”

Some students, like second-year undeclared student Susan
Eckerman, who has mild clinical depression, said pre-college
pressures may effect students’ mental health today.

“I think the intense stress of high school in a way
carries over to the stress that students in college
experience,” she said.

“Sometimes that stress they experienced then makes
students more prone to depression now,” Eckerman
continued. “In my experience, depression occurs when
there’s pressure.”

Depression is clinically described as an emotional condition,
characterized by feelings ranging from hopelessness and inadequacy
to sadness.

The Ashe Center and SPS serve as two main resources on campus
students can go to for help with depression. Students can go to
either to get advice and counseling information.

During the academic year, regularly enrolled students (which
excludes extension students) can receive SPS services free of
charge.

“We work closely with SPS to co-manage the depression
cases that we encounter,” Dawson said. “Depending
on the severity of the case, if we do refer them elsewhere,
virtually all the time we refer them to SPS. It’s right on
campus, it’s free, and they have a highly experienced
staff.”

Students referred to SPS for depression usually show a
combination of symptoms such as insomnia, loss of appetite and low
concentration.

SPS serves students almost exclusively, but there are a few
exceptions, Prescott said.

“There will sometimes be emergency cases,” he said.
“Or if family problems is the cause of their depression,
we’ll bring in the family member and talk to them together.
They have to be connected with the student.”

Not only are the patients who come in for depression suffering
from stress or situational depression, but biological depression is
common among them as well.

“The students’ way of reacting to anxiety could be a
reason for depression,” Prescott said. “Although there
may be biological propensities where students are naturally prone
to it, it isn’t as much situational.”

From her experience, Eckerman said genetic chemical imbalances
in the brain can cause biological depression.

Eckerman said her family background of depression proved that it
was hereditary.

“If I look at my family history, all the women were prone
to depression,” she said. “My great grandmother,
my grandmother, even my mother had depression
tendencies.”

As much as biology accounts for depression, however, so can
one’s environment, she added.

Students who come in showing depression-related symptoms, such
as high anxiety, sleep deprivation, loss of appetite, are almost
always given the same advice, according to Dawson,

“We tell students to get involved, but to not get involved
in everything,” she said. “We always make it a point to
stress time management and to encourage the right amount of
sleep. It’s unbelievable how sleep can help.”

Many students who come into the Ashe Center with depression-like
symptoms are not always ready to admit they have depression, Dawson
said.

“I think there’s a stigma, and many students
don’t want to be defined as ill,” she said.

Prescott agreed with this notion of students being afraid of
admitting that they are depressed.

“Some students don’t like the idea of
medication,” he said. “To them, it shows a loss of
control, like they have to use something outside of
themselves.”

Eckerman, who uses Prozac, said people are afraid of being given
the label of depression.

“Before, I didn’t want to go on Prozac because I
thought it would make me seem crazy,” she said. “I
mean, you can’t tell if somebody’s on
Prozac. I’m normal. It’s not that it makes me not
me.”

But Dawson said students should not feel alone in their struggle
with clinical depression.

“Some students feel embarrassed about expressing that they
have depression,” she said. “It’s our job to
identify this so they can resume full-function.”

For more information, call SPS at 825-0768 or 825-7985.