I have mixed feelings after reading your article about mental health care at colleges. From 1968 to 1978, I was first a psychiatrist at MIT and then the dean for student affairs, overseeing counseling services, among other programs. Times were very different. Then, the problem was encouraging students to use psychiatric and counseling services. Students were self-conscious about acknowledging their needs and reluctant to request help. How wonderful that students are now more straightforward. How unfortunate that now they have to wait so long to receive needed mental health care.

Universities ought to spend more money on psychiatric services. Young lives lost to suffering are irreplaceable.

Dr. Carola Eisenberg

Cambridge