A child of two psychologists, Lily Crouch spent most of her upbringing adamant that she wouldn’t follow in her parents’ footsteps. But as she neared the end of her high school years, it became clear psychology had been the right path for her all along.
“Really, what I enjoyed learning about was people. I thought and talked about people constantly: what people in my life were doing, why they were doing it, what they must be thinking and feeling in the moment. I constantly tried to get into people’s heads and figure them out,” said Crouch, who is originally from nearby Chagrin Falls.
“I realized that I had been like that since I could remember, and once I had that sort of epiphany, it seemed silly that I had not planned to study psychology all along,” she continued. “Now, looking back, I believe that it was what I was always meant to do. I fall in love with it over again every day through every book, every class, every discussion and research inquiry.”
Crouch is now a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in psychology and pursuing a master’s in bioethics and humanities at Case Western Reserve University with minors in nutrition, religious studies and sociology.
She has actively contributed to research efforts at CWRU, working in the labs of Amy Przeworski, principal investigator of the Stress, OCD and Anxiety-Related Disorders (SOAR) Institute, and James Overholser, who oversees research on suicide and depression.
Outside of her studies and research at CWRU, Crouch recently completed an internship with the neuropsychology department of the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. While there, she shadowed staff members conducting evaluations on patients with a wide range of conditions, giving her valuable insights into how clinicians navigate difficult situations in real time.
Learn more about Crouch’s experiences in her studies and as a member of the volleyball team below.
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
1. What drew you to CWRU?
Growing up in Cleveland, I had known about CWRU and its fantastic reputation all my life. My grandmother taught in the English department, and my grandfather made contributions to the law school. So naturally, when I began looking at colleges, CWRU was on my list. I reached out to Coach [Karen] Farrell my junior year and “overnighted” with a player on the volleyball team right before the pandemic hit.
The overnight visit was a truly wonderful experience; I was really struck by how at home I felt on campus and how nice everyone was. Further, it was clear how much the students cared about academics, but the atmosphere was collaborative rather than competitive, which really set CWRU apart for me. I also really loved the girls on the volleyball team, and that sealed the deal.
2. What has been the most fascinating thing you’ve learned through your studies or research?
I am not sure about the most fascinating thing I have learned, but I think certainly the most useful piece of insight I could share is that in general, all human beings are basically the same underneath. I think often we spend too much time focusing on the differences between us, and those differences too often become overstated. We focus on how men and women are different and how that matters for relationships; we focus on how racial and ethnic groups and religious groups are different from each other; we focus on how individuals who experience mental illness are different from “normal people.”
I can tell you from everything I have learned that the vast majority of these differences are perceived or imagined, rather than grounded in anything concrete, and to overstate them can be incredibly harmful. I have conducted most of my research on individuals with what most would deem significant psychopathology (major depression, those who experience psychosis, those who have committed suicide, those who engage in self-harm), and I have been struck by how most all individuals think, feel, and act in predictable and distinctly human ways. I think too often we are quick to label people as “crazy,” as “monsters,” as ‘other.’ The mental illnesses and behaviors I study have long been feared, misunderstood, misconstrued, and demonized in the media and popular discourse.
I think far too few people realize that individuals who experience these things, in most ways, are just like anyone else, and it does great harm to think they are so different. Overall, I think we would see much greater benefit from trying to understand each other and find similarities, rather than focusing on our differences.
3. What do you hope to accomplish through your research?
For me, the biggest values when it comes to research are furthering the body of knowledge within the field in order to pave the way for future research and informing treatment methods and interventions, either directly through testing of a particular intervention or indirectly through the gathering of knowledge to inform an intervention strategy.
Primarily, I would like to help people who experience mental illness be better understood (by clinicians, by society more broadly, and by themselves) and have access to better care. Further than that, I would like to prevent suffering due to mental illness wherever it can be prevented, whether that be in preventing the onset of mental illness altogether, by improving the condition under which someone with mental illness is living, or simply by making people feel that they are not alone.
4. What has been your favorite moment as a member of the CWRU volleyball team?
I don’t know that I could identify a particular moment as my favorite as a member of the team, but I will say that my favorite thing has always been traveling with the team. Those weekends when we spend every moment together, on the court and off the court, are the most special moments in my opinion, and I think those are the times we grow the closest as a team.
Even if we are waking up super early to go to the airport or to a match, or we’re all just trying to get some studying done on the bus, or we’re simply eating a meal together, the traveling weekends are the times when all the real bonds form, teammates become friends, and you really get to experience the community that college sports is all about. That community is really what I was looking for when I committed to CWRU back in high school, and that’s what I really feel every time we travel.
5. What do you hope to do after you graduate?
Right now, I am working on my applications for PhD programs in clinical psychology to begin next fall (2025). I am looking to specialize in the study and treatment of substance use disorders.