In her second year of medical 

school 
at 
the 
University 
of 

Michigan, 
Rahael 
Gupta 

contemplated taking her own 
life. While Gupta got the help she 
needed and returned to school 
the following year, she uncovered 
a stigma among the medical 
community 
in 
which 
many 

physicians — and those in training 
— hide their depression for fear 
of 
professional 
consequences. 

Now, in her final year of medical 
school, Gupta is speaking out 
about her struggles with mental 
health and emphasize that, just 
like the patients for which they 
care, doctors are not immune to 
depression.

In Gupta’s second year of 

medical 
school, 
she 
began 

feeling fatigued and upset as 
she fell behind in school work. A 
dedicated worker, Gupta wanted 
to just focus on her studies and 
tried to ignore her increasing 
inability to function in school. 
She never considered she was 
suffering from depression until a 
trusted medical school counselor, 
whom she had visited at the time 
to try to defer a test, suggested she 
might be depressed.

“She 
was 
the 
one 
that 

recognized, ‘Okay, this student 
isn’t just having a hard time, there 
is something wrong here,’” Gupta 
said. “She was the first person to 
ask me, ‘Rahael, do you think you 
could be depressed?’ No one had 
asked me that before.”

For Gupta, her mental health 

had become a secondary concern 
to exam deadlines and school 
work, but as a result, her academic 
performance and her well-being 

diminished.

“I was so low and distraught — 

I was just happy that somebody 
was asking me about how I 
was doing instead of about my 

performance,” she said.

Gupta 
is 
not 
alone 
in 

suffering 
from 
depression. 

A 2016 study conducted by a 
team at Brigham and Women’s 

Hospital and the U-M Medical 
School 
found 
one 
in 
four 

medical students may develop 
depression. Though the intensity 
of medical school would seem 
to be an environment naturally 
rife with anxiety and stress for 
students, study co-author Srijan 
Sen explains there is a taboo 
concerning doctors who appear to 
suffer from such pressures.

“I think there’s a culture that 

we’re supposed to be strong and 
nothing can faze a doctor, and 
they can handle anything and 
continue on,” Sen said.

The team collected data from 

over 200 studies, which examined 
the mental health of 129,000 
medical students in 47 countries. 
In 
addition, 
researchers 

found one in 10 students will 
contemplate 
suicide 
during 

medical school. Though there 
are disproportionate numbers of 
medical students suffering from 
depression and suicidal thoughts, 
results from the study show 
only 16 percent of those with 
depression are seeking help.

Sen has previously worked on 

other studies that examine the 
mental health of medical students 
and professionals. He visited 
study participants years after 
they graduated from medical 
school 
and 
completed 
their 

residences to observe similar rates 
of depression and reluctance to 
request mental health care later in 
the participants’ later career lives.

The 
Vietnamese 
Student 

Association painted the Rock 
— a University of Michigan 
tradition 
— 
with 
their 

names and the name of their 
organization on Thursday night 
. On Friday, VSA students found 
their organization’s name on the 
Rock defaced with lewd graffiti 
and expletives directed toward 
the police.

“We’re saying, we’re here, 

we’re here on this campus, and 
we’re here and we exist,” VSA 
co-president Khang Huynh, a 
Public Health senior, said. “So 

when someone vandalized it, it 
left a sour taste in our mouth. 
If you want me to blunt, it just 
felt like a middle finger to our 
student org. To have your name 
literally vandalized over.”

In a statement shared by 

the VSA on Facebook, which 
received over 300 shares as of 
Sunday night, the organization 
referred to the incident not just 
as vandalism, but as a “hate 
crime.”

“This incident is one of many 

vandalizations targeting people 
and 
student 
organizations 

of color at the University of 
Michigan,” the statement said.

Engineering sophomore Radu 

Tolontan and Education senior 
Nick Maternowski may come 
from different colleges at the 
University of Michigan, but they 
share appreciation of the School 
of Education’s new Education for 
Empowerment minor. 

“I don’t think it’s for LSA 

students, I don’t think it’s for 
Arts students, I don’t think it’s for 
Engineering students,” Tolontan 
said. “I think it’s a minor for 
pretty much anybody who likes 
working with people and bringing 
power to people.”

The 
15-credit 
Education 

for Empowerment minor was 
launched this fall and offers 
students the chance to critically 
examine the role of education in 
social change and justice.

Simona Goldin, director of 

instructional design at the School 
of Education, explained the minor 
was developed after faculty who 
taught the Schooling in Multi-
Culture Society course noted 
students’ continued desire to 
pursue questions of social justice 
and its impact on educational 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, September 24, 2018

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Vandalism 
on the Rock 
instigates
controversy

Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller 
talks Broadway journey, time at ‘U’

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Jeffrey Seller, a broadway producer known for his work on Hamilton, discussed his time at Michigan at Palmer Commons Friday afternoon. 

CAMPUS LIFE

Lewd graffiti found over annual painting 
by the Vietnamese Student Association

CARLY RYAN & 
ZAYNA SYED

Daily News Editor &
Daily Staff Reporter

Seller directed plays at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre as a student at Michigan

Acclaimed Broadway producer 

Jeffrey Seller, a University of 
Michigan 1986 graduate, spoke 
to a packed auditorium at Palmer 
Commons 
Friday 
afternoon 

about his student experience at 

the University and his success in 
producing hit-Broadway shows like 
“Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “Hamilton.”

Seller graduated with a bachelor’s 

degree in political science and 
worked various jobs while at the 
University, including directing plays 
at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre 
and writing for The Michigan Daily. 
Seller explained the difficulty he 

faced during his senior year, when 
he was unsure how to navigate his 
goals for the future.

After graduation, Seller moved 

to New York City to pursue a 
career in public relations within 
the entertainment industry. There, 
he met the people who became an 
integral part of his early career.

“Who we team up with helps 

determine our future,” Seller said. 
“The question will be, ‘What can you 
make with yourself and the people 
that you meet from Michigan, and 
the years right after?’”

DANIELLE PASEKOFF

Daily Staff Reporter

New minor 
ties social 
justice and 
teaching 

ACADEMICS

The 15 credit program 
was launched this fall in 
the School of Education

AMARA SHAIKH

Daily Staff Writer

ROSEANNE CHAO/Daily

University medical school working to reduce 
mental health stigma among students, doctors

 A 2016 study, conducted in part by U-M, found one in four medical students may develop depression

RACHEL LEUNG

Daily Staff Writer

Three in a row

Michigan dominated its 

third straight opponent on 
Saturday, this time beating 

Nebraska, 56-10, in the 

Wolverines’ Big Ten opener.

» Page 1B

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©2018 The Michigan Daily

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