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After a 14-week hospital stay last summer, Adaobi Ugochukwu said the social and psychological effects of living as a young adult with lupus engulfed her.

Ugochukwu was diagnosed with the chronic inflammatory disease, which can affect various parts of the body, at age 15 after experiencing various symptoms for about three years. But until she came to the University of Florida to study biochemistry when she was 18, she hadn鈥檛 truly felt the depression that often comes with the disease.

Shortly before she arrived at UF, Ugochukwu鈥檚 lupus flared up, and she experienced the signature symptoms of the disease. These included severe joint pain, pain in the back, shoulders and neck, fatigue, skin rashes, open wounds and debilitating chest pain that sometimes resulted in emergency room visits.

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, between 15 and 60 percent of people with a chronic disease like lupus will experience clinical depression.

Melissa Elder, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the and chief of the division of , said depression is common in patients who have lupus, particularly pediatric patients.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 understand what lupus is. It isn鈥檛 as recognized as other well-known diseases, so there is no automatic empathy for people who have it,鈥� Elder said. 鈥淎dolescents, specifically adolescent females, have a really hard time with this. It鈥檚 a lot to handle.鈥�

Elder said lupus patients often lose motivation over time and become depressed.

鈥淭here is no cure for lupus,鈥� Elder said. 鈥淧atients have to deal with this for their entire lives. That is hard for girls who want to do well in school, succeed and excel, get married, have babies. I have to educate my patients by telling them all of that is possible if they follow the treatment plan.鈥�

Before Ugochukwu鈥檚 sophomore year at UF, she was unexpectedly hospitalized at Shands Hospital for Children at UF and spent more than three months in her hospital room. Ugochukwu said she got very depressed, and her sister was worried about her.

鈥淧eople think, 鈥業f you are at the hospital getting better, then what is your problem? Why are you so sad or upset?鈥� But while you are in here, it is so hard. It鈥檚 easy to slip into a depression,鈥� Ugochukwu said.

Elder, who has been treating Ugochukwu for about six years, believes counseling is important for any child coping with a chronic disease.

Halfway through Ugochukwu鈥檚 stay, Elder and her team arranged for regular visits from board-certified art therapist Amy Bucciarelli, ATR-BC. Bucciarelli is a licensed mental health counselor in the Hospital for Children at UF, where she visited Ugochukwu several times a week for nearly a month and a half.

鈥淚 am a big advocate of any program that can help the patients deal with the mental effects of the physical disease,鈥� Elder said. 鈥淎fter Adoabi began art therapy, I saw a huge difference in her. She came alive again! It was amazing.鈥�

During the art therapy sessions, Bucciarelli discovered Ugochukwu鈥檚 love of children鈥檚 books, specifically pop-up books. Together, Bucciarelli and Ugochukwu created two books while at the same time working through Ugochukwu鈥檚 depression.

鈥淟upus has affected me academically, socially, psychologically and physically,鈥� Ugochukwu, who is now 19, said. 鈥淏ut, through the support I have received from people like Amy, I find ways to live with it.鈥�

Ugochukwu just finished her sophomore year at UF and plans to be a pediatric rheumatologist one day.

鈥淧ediatric rheumatologists are rare,鈥� Ugochukwu said. 鈥淲e need more of them. I think experiencing what it鈥檚 like to be a patient will help me be a good doctor.鈥�