The University Health Services Center will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its Department of Mental Hygiene on Friday, Dec. 1, with a symposium titled "Student Mental Health: Past, Present and Future."
The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place 1:30-5 p.m. in Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. Following talks by Dr. Richard Kadison, chief of mental health at Harvard University, and Dr. Morton Silverman, director of student counseling and associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago, there will be a roundtable discussion of student mental health issues. A reception will follow.
Yale was one of the first universities in the country to recognize the importance of promoting good mental health as part of a student's overall well-being, according to Dr. Lorraine Siggins, clinical professor of psychiatry, who has been a member of the Department of Mental Hygiene for 30 years, and its chief psychiatrist for 11 years.
When Yale President James Angell appointed the first psychiatrist to the Department of Student Health in 1925, "there was no psychiatrist on staff at the School of Medicine," says Siggins, "so the Division of Mental Hygiene [as it was then known] shared its psychiatrist with the medical school."
The new division took its name from the "mental hygiene" movement founded in the early 1900s by Yale alumnus Clifford Beers, who had suffered from mental illness and who dedicated his life to educating the public about psychological issues and mental illness. Because the term "mental hygiene" has faded from popular use, "today we refer to the department as Counseling and Mental Health Services in the Department of Mental Hygiene," says Siggins.
When it was founded, the Division of Mental Hygiene had two mandates, explains Siggins, "to provide therapy for mental health conditions, and to address personal and developmental issues so students' emotional concerns would not interfere with their ability to embrace a Yale education."
Today, the department continues that dual mission, providing the latest treatments and therapies for students with serious problems, such as depression, substance abuse or eating disorders, while also providing counseling for such issues as family difficulties, self-esteem, body image, relationships and academic stress. "We've maintained our emphasis on treating both ends of the spectrum," says Siggins.
Back in 1947, Yale alumnus Paul Mellon became so impressed with the work being done by the Department of Mental Hygiene -- particularly by Dr. Clements Fry, who was its chief psychiatrist for a quarter-century -- that he created an endowment to support the department's work. "In those days, it was almost unheard of for mental health services to receive such gifts," says Siggins. "It shows that Yale has really been at the forefront of the student mental health movement."
Today, in addition to providing treatment and counseling to over 1,000 students each year, the department assigns mental health liaisons to every undergraduate college. These individuals serve as resources for freshman counselors, explains Siggins. In fact, as part of their training to become freshman counselors, students must attend three 1.5-hour sessions presented by the department. There, through role-playing, the prospective counselors are exposed to various situations and offered advice in how to handle them.
The department's mental health liaisons also meet with groups within the graduate and professional schools and other groups, such as writing tutors and coaches.
In addition, the Department of Mental Hygiene provides advisers for undergraduate-run counseling and education groups, such as Walden Student-to-Student Counseling, ECHO, Consent and Pathways Peer Counseling. It also provides information about alcohol and sexual safety issues to the student health educators at the University Health Services Center.
As part of the Yale Health Plan, the department also provides consultations and crisis-intervention services to staff and faculty members, although if ongoing treatment is needed, members are referred to community clinicians and provided a co-insurance benefit.
Students, on the other hand, are treated in the department at 17 Hillhouse Ave. because "it is important that clinicians who work with students understand student concerns in the university context," explains Siggins.
She points out that individuals at universities tend to be more aware of, and willing to seek treatment for, mental distress. "The value of 'knowing yourself' is higher in a university setting," she says.
In fact, some of the issues facing students today are the same ones that faced Yale students 75 years ago. "Many students are perfectionists, which leaves them vulnerable to self-esteem issues as well as anxiety and depression," notes Siggins. "However, as the student body has become increasingly diverse and multicultural, some of the stresses they're dealing with have changed, and our therapies have changed as well."
With its "grand tradition of 75 years," the Department of Mental Hygiene "is of extraordinary importance to our mission of providing care to Yale students," says Dr. Paul Genecin, director of University Health Services. "It's not only a place that provides vital services to students with emotional issues, but it is an important resource for students to be well, to be healthy. And it is a major factor in helping people to succeed at Yale."
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