The Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School has found that many mentally ill people delay seeking out medical care. In reporting the story this week, the LA Times compares the speed in which human beings respond to physical pain verses emotional turmoil.

The study, published this summer in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that those with mood disorders delayed treatment from six to eight years, while people with anxiety disorders waited from nine to 23 years. Ronald Kessler, Harvard professor and co-author of the report, told the Times that many people don't realize that they need help and view the symptoms of their illnesses (sadness, worry, etc.) as nothing more than everyday feelings.