An anonymous student at Harvard University is taking her stand against the university’s attitude and lack of action towards schizophrenic students. The student began to hear voices in her head, and she compared her everyday struggle to trying to write a paper while all of her friends were talking.
She had dealt with homelessness, family crisis, and a recent accident around the time she started to hear voices. Worried about her health, she went to the Harvard University Health Services to speak to a social worker about her struggles. Even though she spoke to the social worker about the voices inside of her head, the woman was not interested in asking her to elaborate. The student told Headline News, “We never talked about the voices. It was a topic that terrified me, and [my psychiatrist] was no more eager to ask me about them. Instead, the social worker encouraged her do take deep breaths and drink chamomile tea to deal with the stress.
She knew that the remedy for the madness in her mind went far beyond tea, but as a poor and financially independent college student, she was aware that there were very few options. Eager to find help, she enrolled in a research study that gave her psychotherapy in exchange for working as a guinea pig for new social workers at the university.
By the time October 2012 rolled around, she was going to a therapist three times a week, and sleeping during all of her free time to hide from the voices inside of her head. The voices became so prominent that she could no longer hear her own stream of consciousness. She experienced other symptoms such as forgetfulness.
When December came, she was swamped with exams and final papers, struggling to catch up and complete all the work she had missed. She survived off of the love and compassion from her roommates, who did all they could to make sure she was eating and being taken care of.
The psychiatrists planned on starting her on antipsychotics, which she soon found out would not be covered by her insurance. She petitioned to have her medicine partially covered by insurance, and successfully lowered the price by $200.
Even on financial aid, she has to work two jobs to pay for her education, and she has no money to spare. She wrote a letter to her financial aid officer, and she still hasn’t heard from him. She made an appointment with the patient advocate, but nothing could be done because she isn’t on the Harvard student insurance plan.
Two months have passed, and the administration is strongly encouraging her to take the semester off from school. Her family situation makes it so that living at home is not an option. She decided to stay and continue fighting for treatment.
Ultimately, the student is asking that people who know about the situation advocate for her ant the other 70 or so students at Harvard that are struggling with schizophrenia or other acute illnesses. This issue is serious, and it’s important that we do all we can as collegiettes to support this student in her struggle and spread awareness about the issue.