Mental Health in Academia

This past week noted two tragic deaths, united by a common, deadly disease. Early Tuesday morning, the body of a woman in her 30s was found on the sidewalk of our street a few doors down from my house—she had apparently ended her own life. Fashion designer L’Wren Scott, age 49, also took her own life last Monday. One woman, alone and unknown except by her family and friends; the other, a wealthy, accomplished international figure with a famous rock-star boyfriend. If this doesn’t exemplify the universal nature of depression and its deadly effects, I don’t know what does.

We don’t often talk about mental health in academia, but probably we should. According to a recent article, the majority of graduate students report feeling depressed, anxious, or overwhelmed at some point during their graduate careers. Twenty-seven percent of them seek support from mental health services on campus. One in ten of them contemplate suicide. While mental health issues certainly have a physiological component, they can be exacerbated by stress and isolation, two conditions which graduate school serves up in abundance.

Yet, the case studies mentioned in the article suggest that most of these graduate students are afraid to discuss their mental health situation with their advising professor or department chair. While the stigma associated with mental health issues is arguably less than it was in our parents’ generation, for example, it can still be considerable—and can prevent students from getting the help and support they need to navigate their responsibilities while preserving their health and safety. For that matter, it is likely that many faculty and staff at colleges and universities are dealing with their own mental health conditions, which they may be reluctant to share with their colleagues or supervisors for fear of the same stigma.

For example: when you hear the term, ‘mentally ill’, what is the first image that comes to mind? Is it a homeless person? Or a Yale law school graduate and chaired professor of law and psychiatry? Professor Elyn Saks provides an example of the latter. Watch the video at the link; it is inspiring and insightful. Note that Professor Saks, who is living with schizophrenia, lists three things as contributing to her ability to lead a happy and fulfilling professional life. The first is high-quality treatment, medication and psychiatric care—which our campus services should be providing to all of our faculty, staff, and students. The second is a supportive and loving network of family and friends who understand her condition and help her to navigate its symptoms. The third is a supportive work environment. We should take note of this last point: how can we support our colleagues and students with mental illness (whether depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, addiction, etc.) unless we are able to discuss it openly and honestly, without stigma?

I would like to make a final distinction here about supporting faculty and students who are living with mental health issues. This may sound as if doing so is for their sake, in order to cater to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to ‘make it’ in academia—perhaps so that we don’t get sued for discrimination. Absolutely not! The contributions of people with diverse mental health conditions improve our academic inquiry. Look at Professor Saks’ example: the personal experience she had being restrained in a psychiatric hospital led her to pursue a line of legal research around how physical restraints are used. This work has the potential to improve thousands of peoples’ mental health care, and to save lives (as one to three people die while being restrained in the U.S. every week). Without Professor Saks’ unique experience and contributions, this research may not have been seen as important, let alone conducted. As I’ve argued on this blog before, diversity makes academia a better place, and improves our mission to conduct research that makes the world a better place in which to live.

So, to our colleagues and students living with mental illness: we support you, and we need you. Let us know how we can better help you to thrive. I think we all have a responsibility to educate ourselves about mental health and the resources available to help those living with mental health conditions (for example: do we know where our campus counseling services are located? Or the symptoms of depression, so that we might recognize them in our students? I confess that I need to learn more about this). Finally, to graduate students struggling with mental health challenges: please be aware that you are not alone, and reach out to someone who will be helpful and sympathetic. If your major advisor can’t fill this role, find another professor, peer, or mentor who can. No degree or career is worth the sacrifice of your health, including your mental health. Make taking care of yourself a top priority, and surround yourself with people who will support that priority.