0
w w w w
14W
mw
w
lqw
qw
w
w
w
w
w
10 h McianDiy - dnsay- Nvmbr s820
Wednesday, Noverber 28, 2007 - The Michigan Daily I B
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Why more students don't use CAPS
The effort to combat
cultural stigmas surrounding mental illness
TALKING
POINTS
Three things you can talk about this week:
1. Musharraf giving up his uniform
2. Skin cells
3. MSA scandals
And three things you can't:
1. Christmas
2. New episodes of "Last Call
with Carson Daly"
3. Les Miles
BY THE NUMBERS
I turned into the artist."
- LOIS GIBSON, the forensic artist on the
"Baby Grace" case, on how she created a nearly
identical rendering of the toddler's appearance
from her remains
"I spend not a nanosecond lis-
tening to what each of them
are sniping toward each other,
so I have no idea what you're
talking about."
- JOHN EDWARDS, answering a question
about Hillary Clinton's criticism of Barack
Obama's foreign relations experience
t can be difficult to pinpoint a
particular group of people who
are clearly more depressed or
stressed than others.
It's easy, though, to find the
groups who are less likely to seek
help.
Depression and mental illness
often come with baggage, more for
some communities than others.
More than one study has shown
that immigrant communities and
some minority groups are less like-
ly to seek help for mental health
conditions, even though they may
have more stressors than the aver-
age population.
In 2005, Daniel Eisenberg, an
associate professor in the School of
Public Health, headed a research
team that launched a survey
called the Healthy Minds Study.
Participants were given a small
financial incentive to fill out a 10-
minute-long questionnaire. About
2,840 University undergraduates
responded.
The study identified about13 per-
cent of women screened and 12 per-
cent of men screened as depressed.
And while the University boasts
one of the best mental health
care programs at any college, and
despite the sometimes long waits
at Counseling and Psychological
Services, the study showed that the
University's resources go under-
recognized by the student body.
Less than 50 percent of students
that the survey identified as seri-
ously depressed had received any
"We don't know if
it's due to the glacial
weather this morning
or to unbridled pas-
sion, but a couple did
not hesitate in having
sexual relations in a
waiting room at the
Koge train station."
- CARSTEN ANDERSON, police spokes-
man, on the possible reasons a couple
decided to have sex in a Danish station
kind of mental health care in the
last year.
Part of this is because not every-
one knows counseling is available
through the University - or that
it's free. Another factor is the social
barriers that restrict students from
seeking help for mental ailments.
For example, students who iden-
tified as Asian or Asian-American
reported higher levels of stigma
about mental health care. And
while there's a popular myth that
black adults have negative asso-
ciations with mental health care,
black students were found to per-
ceive less stigma about depression
prevention than other groups.
The University has been fairly
diligent about responding to such
findings.
"The counseling center has a
tradition of paying attention to
health disparities," CAPS Director
Todd Sevig said. "Most of all, we
listen to what we're hearing from
students."
But addressing the needs of
such diverse groups can be tricky,
especially given the dearth of new
research on the topic of depression
and the cultural stigma surround-
ing health care. To make sure stu-
dents of different groups are being
served equally, counselors try to
match group statistics to the larger
University population and look for
inconsistencies in the numbers.
Recently, CAPS found that far
fewer international students were
seeking mental health care com-
pared to the larger student popu-
lation, even though they generally
reported the same rates of depres-
sion.
"What we did with that was we
looked at the disparity in the data,
talked to students and created an
outreach campaign that targeted
the concerns reported by interna-
tional students," Sevig said. Since
the campaign, CAPS has seen an
increase in international students
at counseling centers. He empha-
sized that the higher levels of inter-
national students coming for help
didn't mean that there were higher
numbers of international students
who needed help in the first place.
"Does it mean they're worse off
now? No," Sevig said. "More stu-
dents know about available servic-
es now than did before, and they're
usingthem."
The University has numer-
ous social, recreational and ser-
vice groups to address the needs
of the diverse student population
and give its members a venue to
express pride in their heritages.
CAPS Interim Associate Director
Stacey Pearson holds a luncheon
for women of color, Nourish Your-
SELF, four times a semester. The
casual environment allows women,
who identify with a range of groups,
a supportive community to discuss
stress agents and potential mental
health triggers like relationship
problems, stereotyping and stress.
"It's about looking at values and
traditions," Pearson said. "Know-
ing what depression looks like for
different groups."
African and Caribbean-Ameri-
can males tend to be less likely to
seek health care on college cam-
puses. Students in these groups
also tend to have a different physi-
cal experience of depression, Pear-
son said.
"Generally, African-American
students tend to somaticize depres-
sion," she said, that is, they could be
more likely to convert anxiety into
actual physical ailments.
Awareness of the ways that dif-
ferentcultural, ethnic and religious
groups experience depression is a
goal of CAPS's staff, Pearson said.
"It means having the knowledge
and skill base to help students in
different constituency groups rec-
ognize and understand their symp-
toms," she said.
A few years ago, Pearson recalled
counselingstudents of color during
the U.S. Supreme Court affirmative
action cases in 2003. That spring,
the University was the focus of a
larger debate about using race in
college admissions. "At that time,
students of color felt they had to
perform better...to prove to the
people questioning them that they
deserved to be there," she said.
Counselors stayed updated
about the case and set up stands in
the Michigan Union to talk with
students who felt frustrated and
upset.
"It's a big part of having cul-
tural competency to understand
and help students," Sevig said. "It's
about awareness of socio-historical
context, which is always fluid."
Six years ago, John Greden
founded the University of Michi-
gan Depression Center in response
to the increasing numbers of sui-
cides among college students. He's
subsequently singled out another
campus group unlikely to seek help
on campus - men, regardless of
background or race.
The center, which taps experts
from different disciplines across
schools, tailored a program called
Real Men, Real Depression to the
college community in an effort to
destigmatize mental health care for
men. The program was created and
was first launched by the National
Institute of Mental Health in 2003
as a public education campaign.
While males and females tend
to experience mental health ill-
ness equally, men are far less likely
to seek counseling. American men
especially, Greden said, tend to suf-
fer from stigma about masculin-
ity. Greden believes that outreach
efforts tailored to specific groups,
like college-aged males, maybe one
way to better make students aware
of mental health care resources.
By all accounts, the program has
met with considerable success. But
despite the University's outreach
programs, not all groups are fully
served.
Eisenberg's study found that
students with less money were the
See CAPS, Page 12B
YOUTUBE
VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
Not The Daily
Show
In a parody of "The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart," Jason Ross, one
of the show's writers, gives a news
broadcast on the Writers Guild of
America strike in New York City.
Ross compares the writer's
plight to Viacom's lawsuit against
YouTube in which a Viacom execu-
tive harangues that media material
shouldn't be used without the cre-
ators getting their fair dues - an
argument all too familiar to strik-
ing film and TVwriters.
Viacom is suing YouTube for $1
billion for copyright infringement.
In the back left corner, a fellow
writer holds signs simulating the
Daily Show graphics behind Jon
Stewart.
With sarcastic comments on Via-
com and the writers' claims, Ross
mimics Jon Stewart, or at least his
jokes, until "John J. Viacom, Jr.
III" comes and demands the show
"cease and desist." He is only suc-
cessful in turning over Ross's table.
And now, here it is, your moment
of Zen: "Getting paid is the name of
the game," said Sumner Redstone,
the chair of Viacom.
- EMILY BARTON
See this and other
YouTube videos of the week at
youtube.com/user/michigandaily
Number of new STD infections diagnosed each year
Percentage increase of the number of diagnosed syphilis cases in
2006 from 2005
Estimated percentage of undiagnosed chlamydia cases
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
THEME PARTY SUGGESTION
'Save Capitalism' benefit - As any news media
consumer knows, low spending during Black Fri-
day this year has posed an immediate threat to the
nation's economy. Help restore capitalism with one
of those product peddling parties where every guest
feels obliged to buy a piece of jewelry or sports
memorabilia. Beer might be free at campus parties,
but that doesn't mean your friends should leave with
their wallets intact.
Throwing this party? Let us know. TheSttement@umich.edu
STUDY OF THE WEEK
The Americas were populated in one migration
University researchers have found genetic evidence that supports
the theory that the native peoples of North America came to the conti-
nent from Siberia by way of a land bridge in one movement, a University
release said Tuesday.
The land bridge theory is opposed by experts who believe the
continent's populations arrived in separate migrations from different
places.
The study's researchers examined genetic variation at 678 loca-
tions in the DNA of living members of 29 Native American populations
across North, Central and South America, as well as two Siberian
groups.
The study suports the land bridge theory with findings that genetic
similarity to Siberian populations decreased the farther a native people
is from the Bering Strait and that a genetic variation is present in native
populations across the American continents.
- JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN
5'