In the past few years, more studies about poor mental health in academia have been conducted and found that PhD students are almost 3 times as likely to develop mental health problems than then general population. While studies have not been conducted yet on postdoctoral researchers, anecdotal evidence has shown similar concern about mental health on blogs such as Chronically Academic, and others. Topics often linked with poor mental health are work-life balance, job demands, long work hours, supervisor’s leadership, and financial concerns. Many of these these stressors are often exacerbated for those with an underrepresented identity with the addition of factors such as stereotype threat, imposter syndrome, or microaggressions. I will discuss the challenges that lead to poor mental health for early career physicists as well as some possible solutions that can be implemented by individuals and the community.

1. MENTAL HEALTH
CHALLENGES FOR
EARLY CAREER
PHYSICISTS
Dr. Andrea J. Welsh
(She/her/hers)
awelsh8@gatech.edu

2. OUTLINE
• Terminology
• Research conducted on graduate student mental health
• Topics often linked with poor mental health
• How other identities can affect mental health
• Ways to improve community and best practices for yourself
Warning: Suicide discussion later in the talk

3. WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT
WHEN WE SAY “MENTAL HEALTH”?
 Emotional, psychological, and social well-being
 Ability to cope with stress
 Ability to be productive
 Ability to make a meaningful contribution to one‘s
community
 Ability to meet one’s potential

4. WHAT DOES POOR MENTAL
HEALTH LOOK LIKE?
 Eating or sleeping too much or too little
 Pulling away from people and usual activities
 Having low or no energy
 Feeling numb or like nothing matters
 Having unexplained aches and pains
 Feeling helpless or hopeless
 Experiencing severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
 Thinking of harming yourself or others
 Inability to perform daily tasks

5. Depression Anxiety Bipolar Disorder
PTSD Borderline Personality Disorder OCD
Insomnia Dissociative Identity Disorder
Mania Seasonal Affective Disorder Autism
Schizophrenia Psychosis Eating Disorders
Panic Disorder Suicide Phobia
YOU MAY HAVE HEARD
WORDS LIKE:
But, you don’t need to be diagnosed with an illness to have poor
mental health and take an active role to have good mental health!

6. NATIONAL STATISTICS
19.1% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in 2018 (47.6 million people)
4.6% of U.S. adults experienced serious mental illness in 2018 (11.4 million people)
16.5% of U.S. youth aged 6-17 experienced a mental health disorder in 2016 (7.7
million people)
Annual prevalence of mental illness among U.S. adults, by demographic group:
 Non-Hispanic Asian: 14.7%
 Non-Hispanic white: 20.4%
 Non-Hispanic black or African-American: 16.2%
 Non-Hispanic mixed/multiracial: 26.8%
 Hispanic or Latino: 16.9%
 Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual: 37.4%
National Alliance of Mental Illness 2018, https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers

7. STATISTICS ON SUICIDE
 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34 in the U.S.
 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.
 The overall suicide rate in the U.S. has increased by 31% since 2001
 46% of people who die by suicide had a diagnosed mental health condition
 Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are 4x more likely to attempt suicide than straight youth
 75% of people who die by suicide are male
 Transgender adults are nearly 12x more likely to attempt suicide than the general
population
 Annual prevalence of serious thoughts of suicide, by U.S. demographic group:
 4.3% of all adults
 11.0% of young adults aged 18-25
 17.2% of high school students
 47.7% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students
If you or someone you know is in an emergency,
call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK
(8255)
National Alliance of Mental Illness 2018, https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers

8. HOW IT CAN AFFECT YOUR
LIFE AS AN ACADEMIC
 Not being able to concentrate while working
 Social anxiety causing difficulties networking at conferences/working in
groups
 Missing classes for large periods of time due to mental illness
 Missing opportunities because you feel you aren’t worth it/good enough,
you are too exhausted to finish applications in time or attend events
 Not being able to connect with others because of stigma talking about
your situation
 Not having a professors or research advisor who understands what you
might need to care for yourself while being productive

9. PREVALENCE IN GRADUATE
SCHOOL
Symptom Prevalence (%)
Felt under constant strain 41
Unhappy and depressed 30
Lost sleep over worry 28
Lost confidence in self 24
Felt worthless 16
Could not make decisions 15
Reported at least two symptoms 51
Reported at least four symptoms 32
Data from 3700 Ph.D. students surveyed in Belgium
K. Levecque et al., Research Policy 46, 868, 2017
• Of those who sought assistance, only
35% said that they found helpful
resources at their own institution.
• Nearly 20% said they tried to find help
at their home institution but didn't feel
supported.
• “There are so many cultural and
financial barriers to seeking help,”
2.5 times more likely than highly educated
people in the general population to be at
risk of depression and other common
psychiatric disorders

10.  41% of grad students scored as
having moderate to severe anxiety
compared to 6% of general
population
 39% of grad students scored as
having moderate to severe
depression as compared to 6%
general population
 Transgender/GNC and women more
likely to have poor mental health
Data from 2279 grad students surveyed from 26 countries, 234 institutions
Evans et al Nature Biotechnology 36, 282-284, 2018
ANOTHER STUDY….

11. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CAUSES?
Correlation between
Anxiety/depression among
graduate students and lack of
support for their academic
mentor/advisor
Data from 2279 grad students surveyed from 26 countries, 234 institutions
Evans et al Nature Biotechnology 36, 282-284, 2018

12. MENTAL HEALTH AND
ADVISOR LEADERSHIP
Inspirational leadership style – better mental health
Autocratic leadership style – no significant mental health problems
Laissez-faire leadership style – risk of experiencing psychological distress
significantly increased
Data from 3700 Ph.D. students surveyed in Belgium
K. Levecque et al., Research Policy 46, 868, 2017

13. COMMENTS ABOUT ADVISING
 “My adviser is not useful as a mentor and doesn't really help much with my
project, but that is typical for advisers and if you expect otherwise, you didn't
have realistic expectations for graduate school.”
 “My advisor doesn't respond to e-mails … I feel lost in my progress. I came to
graduate school with a very clear research project, full of confidence and
inspiration, and now all of that has fallen apart. … It isn't all completely dismal—I
like a lot of the people in my program, and there are some people on my
committee who have taken time for me and seem to genuinely care.”
 “Many faculty are utterly unaware of the current academic job market and of the
precarious financial situation graduate students find themselves in.”
 “I feel that professors should be required to take courses on mentorship and
management.” “Advisors need training in how to be better mentors!”
 “A less supportive adviser or department culture would significantly impact my
well-being. For example, I am aware of grad students who are afraid to discuss
their weekend activities freely because their advisor frowns on the idea that they
wouldn't be in the lab working. A situation like that is outrageous, the GA should
fight that kind of culture at every opportunity.”
Graduate Student Happiness & Well-
Being Report The Graduate Assembly
(2014) University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Assembly

14. WHY IS IT SO HIGH IN ACADEMIA?
 Poor work-life balance:
 Long work hours - 60-80 hours/week
 Little time for social activities
 Family management & 2 body problem
 Student or employee? When to work
 Lack of community
 Work related to funding
 “Publish or Perish”
 Writing grants→ less science
 # people increase, awards available the
same
 Principal Investigation/student relationship
 No “real” mentorship
 Students don’t feel valued
 Lack of clear expectations— “What is
success?”
 Lack of career development
 Jobs outside of academia?
 Skills developed during PhD not as helpful
 Often no networking
 Interview prep?
 How do you get lab management skills?

15. AN UNSUPPORTIVE FACULTY ADVISOR
(AN EXTREME BY NOT SINGULAR CASE)
“….I need to keep track of your progress. You are to be in
your office from 9am to 8pm, unless you have lectures or
teaching… irrespective of your health, mood or state. Your
past does not concern our work. I would like you to
discontinue the therapy/psychiatry treatment you are
undergoing. You must condition yourself to believe that work
is the best therapy…”
(email from advisor to student, posted with permission)

16. WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK….
“We have received some questions about how many hours a graduate
student is expected to work. There is no easy answer, as what matters is your
productivity, particularly in the form of good scientific papers. However, if you
informally canvass the faculty (those people for whose jobs you came here to
train), most will tell you that they worked 80-100 hours/week in graduate
school. No one told us to work those hours, but we enjoyed what we were
doing enough to want to do so. We were almost always at the office, including
at night and on weekends.”
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/10/10/hey-physics-astronomy-
professors-this-is-not-okay/

17. DISCREPANCY BETWEEN
PHDS & ACADEMIC JOBS
 Proportion people completely PhD
Doubled but # academic jobs stay
around the same
 “My adviser looks down on non-
academic jobs and thinks they're only
suitable for people who aren't very
motivated”
 Around 30% disagreed or strongly
disagreed with the statement that
their supervisor has useful advice for
non-academic careers
Maher & Anfres, Nature 538 7626 2016

18. DEMOGRAPHICS AND
MENTAL HEALTH
• Students of “other” race/ethnicity report lower well-being
• African-American and Native American/Alaska Native students feel they are less
likely to feel valued and included in their departments and less likely to feel that
their cultures are valued and respected
• Lesbian, gay and bisexual grad students report lower well-being
• But feel just as valued and included in their departments as their heterosexual or
straight peers
• less likely to feel that their culture is valued and respected.
• Older students report lower well being
• There is no well-being gap by gender or U.S. citizenship status.
Graduate Student Happiness & Well-Being Report The Graduate Assembly (2014) University of California, Berkeley Graduate Assembly
54% female, had an average and median age of 28, was 48% White, 30% Asian/Pacific Islander, 11% Hispanic, 4% African-
American, 1% Native American, and 6% of other race/ethnicity. About 11% identify as LGBQ, 35% are married, 13% are
parents and 33% are non-U.S. citizens

19. Posted 2015. Image
of LGBT+ Posters
ripped down at CERN
https://twitter.com/J
ayHowarthHTGAP/stat
us/602949157347799
040/photo/1

20. WHY IS IT SO HIGH IN ACADEMIA?
 Poor work-life balance:
 Long work hours - 60-80 hours/week
 Little time for social activities
 Family management & 2 body problem
 Student or employee? When to work
 Work related to funding
 “Publish or Perish”
 Writing grants→ less science
 # people increase, awards available the
same
 Principal Investigation/student relationship
 No “real” mentorship
 Students don’t feel valued
 Lack of clear expectations— “What is
success?”
 Lack of career development
 Jobs outside of academia?
 Skills developed during PhD not as helpful
 Often no networking
 Interview prep?
 How do you get lab management skills?

21. INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
AND MUTUAL EXPECTATIONS
IDP - A structured planning tool designed to:
Identify long-term career goals
Make a plan for improving your skills
Set goals for the coming year to improve efficiency and productivity
Structure productive conversations with your mentor(s) about career plans and
developments
Mutual Expectations Document
What students/researchers expect from their advisor/PI (respect, clear
communication, guidance on career, guidance on research)
What advisors/PI expect from their students/researchers (respect, clear
communication, commitment & productivity, responsibility, teamwork)
http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/ http://catalog.gatech.edu/academics/graduate/expectations/

22. INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM
Graduate Students & Postdocs Faculty Advisors & Mentors
Step 1 Conduct a self-assessment and identify areas for
progress towards long- and short-term goals.
Share your self-assessment and draft goals with
your advisor/mentor
Review student/postdoc’s self-assessment and
draft goals, and identify resources and
opportunities to support their goals
Step 2 Meet to discuss self-assessment, goals, resources, and opportunities
Step 3 Write/revise goals for upcoming year and share
with advisor
Review your student/postdoc’s goals for the
year and provide feedback in the for of
comments/suggestions—ideally by way of a
face-to face meeting
Step 4 Schedule mid-year check ins (ideally every two months through out the year) so that you can meet
to discuss progress toward goals, and to revise as necessary
http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

23. TAKE AWAY:
ADVISORS & MENTORS
 Be scheduled, but flexible
 Have semi-regular check-ins, meetings, and/or assessments
 Make goals reasonable and clear
 But–reassess goal posts regularly, recognize work schedules may be different
 Find resources
 Career development
 Conference, national organizations, local
 Encourage non-research activities
 Conferences help develop presentation skills
 Leadership positions in organizations lead to career development
 Make sure there are scheduled breaks for students and postdocs
 Encourage no working on weekends/after hours
 Encourage students/postdocs to leave the office for lunch/coffee
 Destigmatize failure, Celebrate Success
 Develop “Mutual Expectations” document (eg.
http://catalog.gatech.edu/academics/graduate/expectations/)
Adapted from J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 11, 1939-1946 and
Peterse et al. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1402423

24. TAKE AWAY:
ADMIN & DEPARTMENTS
 Department hiring include plan for mentoring/advising of students and postdocs
 Plan social events for grad students & postdocs
 May have to encourage some advisors to allow their members to attend
 Events specifically for postdocs
 coffee hours, feature a theme, such as Chinese New Year, Pride Week, Earth Day, and Meet
the Faculty
 Modify PhD programs, include structure for postdocs
 Annual evaluation from advisors
 Mandatory meetings with committee
 Provide resources to new postdocs when hired (Digital & physical library of resources)
 Update policies to minimize abuse from advisors
 Provide training for faculty for mentoring students, managing a lab/research group
 Monitoring the performance of PhD supervisors/PIs
 Make clear what expectations for students/postdocs are (hours, goals, etc)
 Allocate budget for these social events
Adapted from J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 11, 1939-1946 and
Peterse et al. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1402423

25. TAKE AWAY:
SELF
 Seek professional help when needed
 Therapist, counselor, psychiatrist
 Grad advisor, ombudsperson, Title XI, HR
 Form a support community in and out of academia
 Be a part of social/professional organizations
 Create an IDP to help stay on task long term
 Know your limits, but don’t limit yourself
 Know when to say no
 Make a “stop time” for work/checking emails
 Creating boundaries with advisors may be hard/may need to get department help
 Remind yourself that failure is okay
 Schedule fun activities and hobbies
 Ask for help

26. WHAT KIND OF RESOURCES
ARE AVAILABLE?
 Therapy (on or off campus)
 Individual
 Group
 Couples
 Teletherapy (Betterhelp, etc)
 Workshops (Managing Stress,
Perfectionism, etc)
 Medication (Prescribed from a Psychiatrist)
 Anti-anxiety
 Anti-depressants (SSNRIs, SSRIs, MAOIs,
tricyclics
 Mood stabilizers
 University Office of Disability Services
 Accommodations can vary
 Apps
 Medication Tracking
 Mood Tracking (AnxietyCoach, Happify,
MoodTools, etc)
 Sleep Tracking (Google Fit, Sleep as
Android, Sleep Better with Runtastic)
 Exercise/Meal Tracking
 Online Communities
 Reveal to Heal: A Mental Health Series for
Women of Color in STEM
 The Mighty
 Chronically Academic
 Other social media services
 Friends, an advocate, a mentor
 Emotional Support/Service Animals

27. MENTAL HEALTH IN PHYSICS
GOOGLE GROUP & SLACK
 Online community for those in the physics community
 Hidden (people cannot find it if they search)
 ~90 members (ugrads, grads, post docs, faculty, non-academic)
 Sharing articles
 Asking for advice
 Planning a meet up at larger conferences
 Some use gmail accounts that are anonymous
 Email me (awelsh8@gatech.edu) to join

28. REMEMBER…

29. SOME RESOURCES
 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1 800 273 8255 (US) You can also text!
 The Trevor Project: Suicide prevention for LGBTQIA+ Youth http://thetrevorproject.org/
 National Alliance on Mental Illness https://www.nami.org
 Mental Health America- Latino/Hispanic Communities And Mental Health
https://www.mhanational.org/issues/latinohispanic-communities-and-mental-health
 Ulifeline: online resource for college mental health http://www.ulifeline.org/
 Campus counseling centers
 Campus Office of Disability Services
 The Mighty - https://themighty.com/
 Anxiety and Depression Association of America - https://adaa.org/finding-help/mobile-apps
 Chronically Academic - https://chronicallyacademic.org/
 If You’re Reading This - http://www.ifyourereadingthis.org/
 https://medium.com/@SolidarityWOC/filling-our-cups-4-ways-people-of-color-can-foster-mental-
health-and-practice-restorative-healing-64e5e7584127

30. SOME ARTICLES ABOUT MENTAL
HEALTH IN ACADEMIA
 “Hey, Physics & Astronomy Professors? THIS IS NOT OKAY!”
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/10/10/hey-physics-astronomy-professors-this-is-not-okay/
 “Point of View: A fair deal for PhD students and postdocs” Henry Bourne, Oct 2013,
https://elifesciences.org/articles/01139
 “Graduate Student Happiness & Well-Being Report” Berkeley Graduate Assembly, 2014
http://ga.berkeley.edu/wellbeingreport/
 “LGBT Climate in Physics” APS Ad-hoc Committee on LGBT+ Issues, March 2015
https://www.aps.org/programs/lgbt/index.cfm
 “Young Scientists under pressure: what the data shows” Brendan Maher & Miquel Sureda Anfres, Oct 2016
https://www.nature.com/news/young-scientists-under-pressure-what-the-data-show-1.20871
 “Young, talented, and fed up” Kendall Powell, Oct 2016
https://www.nature.com/news/young-talented-and-fed-up-scientists-tell-their-stories-1.20872
 Reveal to Heal: A Mental Health Series for Women of Color in STEM, Chrystelle Vilfranc, 2017-2018
https://conversations.vanguardstem.com/revealtoheal/home
 “It’s Time for Physicists to talk about Mental Health” Andrea Welsh, May 2017, Physics Today
http://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.3.20170531a/full/
 “Commentary: Surviving scientist Burnout” by Luigi Delle Site -
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/PT.3.3675
 “Evidence for a mental health crisis in Graduate Education” Teresa Evans et. al, Nature Biotechnology, March 2018
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089

31. SOME ARTICLES ABOUT MENTAL
HEALTH IN ACADEMIA
 “My Invisible Battle” Physics World, March 2018
https://physicsworld.com/a/my-invisible-battle/
 “Stress and Mental Health in Graduate School: How Student Empowerment Creates Lasting Change” Maral P. S.
Mousavi, Journal of Chem Education, Aug 2018
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00188
 “Addressing the mental health crisis among doctoral researchers” Peterse et al. Sept 2018
https://elephantinthelab.org/mental-health-crisis-doctoral-researchers/
 “Mental Health in Academia: a question of support” Elsa Loissel, eLife ,Oct 2018
https://elifesciences.org/articles/52881
 “Reimbursement policies make academia less inclusive”
https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2019/02/reimbursement-policies-make-academia-less-inclusive
 “Graduate student working conditions are worsening. To fight back, they’re unionizing” Kristifor Sunderic Oct 2019
https://massivesci.com/articles/graduate-student-unions-teachers-strike-mental-health/
 ”Adapting to my Brain” Luis Batista, Feb 2020 Science
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6481/1050
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255)
Contact Andrea Welsh awelsh8@gatech.edu to be added to Mental Health in Physics SLACK and
Google Group