Mental Health

The Harvard community is exploring how we cope with, manage, and understand mental health and how it impacts our lives.

People sit in a circle outside on a lawn

Mental health at Harvard

Intellectual growth and academic achievement should not come at the expense of wellbeing. Together, we can create a culture at Harvard that embraces the importance of mental health and wellbeing.

Learn more about the initiative on wellbeing at Harvard

Managing mental health

Mental health impacts each person differently. Harvard experts share ways to care for ourselves and for others.

Early childhood

Building resilience through play

Far from frivolous, play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience.

Health care workers

Increasing investments in mental health benefits everyone

College Students

Creating a culture of success—for all college students

Employees

Ways managers can support employees’ mental health

Spiritual communities

Cultivating a contemplative practice

Adolescents

What do anxious teens need?

Is a mobile app as good as a therapist?

Mental health apps claim to treat depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses without therapy appointments. Do these apps actually work, or are they too good to be true?

The toll of a global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rise in mental health concerns, including anxiety, stress, and feelings of isolation.

Mental health in a post-pandemic world

Matthew Nock discusses the increase in adolescents experiencing mental health issues and what treatment might look like in a post-pandemic world.

Learn more from The Harvard Gazette

Coping with pandemic stress on campus

Many have struggled with health and safety concerns associated with working, teaching, and learning, both remotely and on campus.

How has the pandemic impacted children’s mental health?

A series of national surveys conducted in 1999, 2004, and 2017 provided a baseline for looking at children’s mental health, revealing some troubling underlying trends.

How pandemic stressors can affect mental health

Lifestyle disruptions during the pandemic may have triggered inflammation in the brain contributing to fatigue, concentration difficulties, and depression

Why returning to “normal” feels so not

Psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors have long predicted that once the pandemic’s physical impacts lessened, there would be a mental health fallout.

The cost of distancing

Experts share that for most healthy individuals, additional time spent socially distant from family and friends may worsen a growing national mental health problem.

Research and new discoveries

Bipolar breakthrough

A genetic study involving thousands of people with bipolar disorder has revealed new insight into the condition’s molecular underpinnings.

Baby teeth and mental health

Baby teeth of children born to mothers with a history of severe depression or other psychiatric problems offer a common characteristic.

Changing the global face of mental health care

Vikram Patel, a leader in championing new models of mental health delivery, recently started testing the idea of community-based mental health care using local human resources.

Learn more about his work

Lower risk of depression with elevated exercise

Thirty-five minutes a day of physical activity may protect against depression, even in those who are genetically vulnerable.

Can microdosing psychedelics improve your mental health?

There is an emerging push within the scientific community to study psychedelic drugs as treatments for psychiatric conditions that could potentially be more effective medications.

A drug discovery platform for mental health conditions

A new screening system developed by the Wyss Institute rapidly identifies drugs that could treat illnesses like bipolar disorder.