Thursday, March 28, 2024

Formula for Happiness

Community reflects on stigmas of mental health, available resources

October 10, 2012

Chemistry and Lyman Briggs professor Robert LaDuca underwent open-heart surgery about a year ago. Three days before his surgery, he received the Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council, made up of representatives from universities across the state. LaDuca describes how much teaching means to him and the reasons why he spent the day before his surgery teaching a chemistry class.

Photo by Rebecca Ryan | The State News

When professor Robert LaDuca heard about mathematics professor John McCarthy’s public breakdown last week, he knew he had to step into the light and publicly announce a secret that has festered within his private life for more than a decade.

In class, LaDuca’s students describe him as upbeat and energetic, but there is a “dark side” to the Lyman Briggs and chemistry professor.

For more than 10 years, depression has been a major factor in LaDuca’s life and, at times, an all-encompassing force impairing him so much, it is difficult to even pull himself out of bed in the morning to take a shower.

“There are days where I’m feeling down, and you almost feel like the party clown — crying on the inside, but projecting this really enthusiastic exterior,” LaDuca said. “With the incident with the math professor, it’s almost a responsibility for me to out this publicly and let the wider university community know that just because one is an esteemed, well-regarded lecturer … doesn’t mean you’re not prone to depression.”

Last Monday, the Internet exploded with jokes and pictures about the “naked professor,” “who stripped in front of his classroom full of students and walked down the halls of the Engineering Building on Oct. 1, shouting profanities at people walking by.

A friend of McCarthy’s previously told The State News the professor has been suffering from depression for more than 10 years, and the outburst last week was McCarthy’s most serious episode.

In light of the incident and in honor of National Depression Screening Day, the MSU Counseling Center and Active Minds, a student group that aims to combat stigmas surrounding mental illnesses, are teaming up to acknowledge depression’s presence on campus by opening extra screening facilities.

Unlike other illnesses, one of the biggest obstacles to recovery of a mental illness is acknowledging it in the first place.

Acceptance
LaDuca has overcome two episodes of severe depression in his life — one was about 10 years ago when he and his wife divorced, and the other was just last year, after he underwent open-heart surgery.

When LaDuca returned to teaching after recovering physically from the operation, he had a difficult time, too tired to even write a research paper. It took months for him to acknowledge he had a problem.

He sees himself as someone who can “find humor in anything,” and in class, he jokes often. But when LaDuca talks about the seriousness of mental health, the usually lighthearted professor is reminded of feeling “cold” and “alone.”

“I know that chemistry is cool,” LaDuca said, explaining what he tells himself to overcome moments when his depression flares. “I know deep down the depressive feelings I have are what’s fake, that there’s something going on in my brain that day — I either didn’t sleep well, didn’t eat the right stuff the day before, didn’t get my exercise, I’m off-kilter — and that knowledge of knowing that’s the lie can help me get through the day.”

Active Minds President Stephanie Colwell, a neuroscience sophomore, also experienced frustration with depression during high school.

“Once you do describe how you’re feeling, it gets easier — it’s just hard with that initial step of telling someone and getting help,” Colwell said.

But LaDuca said reaching out for help, either from a complete stranger or from a counselor, is an important step in the road to recovery.

“No one has ever really gotten someone to change behavior by shaming them and telling them how nasty and negative of a person they are, so it doesn’t work (for yourself),” LaDuca said. “There’s a lot of demands on everyone here at the university, but it is important for everybody to realize it’s not healthy to be a human doing, you have to be a human being.”

Treatment
People need to see mental illnesses such as depression as no different than other chronic illnesses because they can be just as impairing, university physician Dr. Beth Alexander said.

Faculty and staff can receive mental health support from the Employee Assistance Program for short-term counseling services and referrals to long-term services, while there also are two insurance plans available to staff, and one of them completely covers mental health assistance, Alexander said.

Usually, patients’ symptoms range from feelings of hopelessness, fatigue, weight loss or weight gain and irritability to tearfulness for months at a time, not just a day, said Dr. Leigh White, a psychiatrist at Olin Health Center.

“They’ll feel like they just can’t go on or they don’t want to be here, they want to escape,” White said. “That may escalate to the point where they actually want to kill themselves. Depression can be a very, very serious illness — a deadly illness.”

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White said she knows it is difficult for students to feel comfortable seeking out help, especially if they are self-conscious about their depression.

Students can be screened for depression at the Counseling Center, or during a general visit to Olin Health Center.

It could not be confirmed whether McCarthy sought mental health treatment before his episode.

LaDuca said depression and mental illnesses in general can be much more bearable for those who are struggling if friends and family use empathy.

“I think at some level, if we each look down into our own hearts, minds, spirits, whatever you call it, there’s something wrong in there in every one of us,” LaDuca said. “To deny this is folly, so try to — if you’re seeing someone struggle — try to touch into that sense of empathy.”

Discussion

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