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Evening Focuses on

10/1/2009

Miller School psychiatrists Eva Ritvo, M.D., and Ewald Horwath, M.D., are on a mission to strip away the curtain of secrecy and shame society has arbitrarily erected around mental illness.

Toward that end, on Tuesday, September 22, Ritvo opened her Miami Beach home to University of Miami trustees and Miller School leaders. The objective of the informal affair was to highlight the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, to garner support for its efforts, and to discuss stress-avoidance techniques.

But the event also served to underline the ubiquitous nature of mental illness, as Miller School Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, Department of Neurology Chair Ralph Sacco, and Dr. Horwath, interim chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, all talked about how their mothers’ lives had been touched by the disease.

Their straightforward take on mental illness was part of a remarkable gathering focused on "the science of the mind," a term that surfaced repeatedly as the evening unfolded.

"I feel so privileged to be the Dean of a School of Medicine where we have a really substantial emphasis on a field that focuses on the brain," Goldschmidt said, after thanking Ritvo for making her home available.

"My mom was a remarkable but depressed person, to the point that it was rather difficult at times for me to coax her out of bed," Goldschmidt continued. "Much of my negotiating skill came from the fact that I’ve been negotiating since I can remember, just to do things as a normal family.

"Eva, people like you make a difference day in and day out, in terms of providing opportunities for those with mental illness to be healed," the Dean said.

Horwath noted that people who aren’t mentally ill tend to think of themselves as somehow different from those grappling with psychiatric problems. "Mental illness is all around us and among us," he said. "It’s also in my family. My mother suffered from bipolar depression for much of her adult life."

"My mom was fine until she lost a child, which triggered the onset of her depression," Horwath said. "The story of mental illness, by and large, is that it often begins after a very stressful life event in people who have some biological or psychological vulnerability."

Sacco revealed that "before I became a neurologist, I thought about becoming a psychiatrist. My mother also had bipolar illness and depression."

"Psychiatry and neurology have been collaborating at the Miller School to better map out how the brain functions, and to tackle some of the unanswered questions related to mental illness," Sacco added.

Given that stressful times can sometimes trigger mental illness, it’s important to manage stress in an era where the economy is topsy-turvy and the nation is fighting two wars, Ritvo said.

"The reality is, during turbulent times like these, we really have to take care of ourselves," she said. "During times when stress abounds, eat better than you would normally eat. Learn to meditate. And I always tell people not to drink alcohol when they’re stressed, because that robs them of the opportunity to develop other coping skills."

Phil George, M.D., chairman of UM’s Board of Trustees, had a final word for the crowd in Ritvo’s home. "The message tonight is: We’re glad that you’re here, we hope you like what you’ve seen and heard, and please come and learn more about what we have," George said. "We need the support of the entire community.