CUWiP 2019: Mental health

Workshop led by Dr. Marsha Carolan and Dr. Abbie Stevens at the APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics 2019 hosted at Michigan State University.

"Improving mental health and wellbeing practices"
Mental health can take many forms and people who work in high-stress environments are prone to experience mental health issues. Even worse, studies show that gender minorities experience mental health problems at higher rates. This workshop provides an opportunity to discuss mental wellbeing as it pertains to physicists and future researchers. It will be led by a trained therapist and an astronomy postdoc who advocates for the mental wellbeing of early career researchers.

Transcript

1. IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH
   and wellbeing practices
   Abbie Stevens
   Astronomy postdoc
   alstev@pa.msu.edu
   Marsha Carolan
   Prof, licensed therapist
   carolan@msu.edu
   CUWiP 2019 at MSU
   

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2. WHAT DOES “MENTAL WELLBEING” OR “MENTAL HEALTH” MEAN?
   ➤ Mental health: emotional, psychological, and social
   wellbeing
   ➤ How you see yourself, how you interact with others, etc.
   ➤ Mental health is important!!
   ➤ Mental illness, mental health problems: factors
   (situational, clinical/biological/chronic) that get in the way of
   your emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing
   

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3. WHY SHOULD WE DISCUSS MENTAL WELLBEING?
   ➤ While individual mental wellbeing is very personal, a
   community has a responsibility for its ‘climate’ and towards
   its members
   ➤ We want you to be informed and prepared as you move
   forward in your education and career
   

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4. EXAMPLES OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
   ➤ Depression
   ➤ Anxiety
   ➤ Stress, work pressure
   ➤ Burnout
   ➤ ADHD, ADD
   ➤ Substance overuse
   ➤ Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
   ➤ Grief, loss
   ➤ Homesickness
   ➤ Seasonal Affective Disorder
   

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5. COMMON CAUSES OF DEPRESSION & ANXIETY IN GRAD SCHOOL
   ➤ Impostor syndrome
   ➤ Advisor fit
   ➤ Family and relational problems
   ➤ Lack of social support
   ➤ Prior trauma triggered by heightened grad school/job
   pressures
   

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6. 1 in 4 will have some kind of mental illness in their lifetime.
   Mental Illnesses.
   1 in 10
   Source(s): Psychological Bulletin, The Harris Poll, Haris Interactive, Nielsen, “U.S. Smartphone Battle Heats up”, 2011 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, World Health Organization. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.
   1 in 6
   More common than grey cars
   1 in 4
   Just how common is 1 in 4?
   Just as common as iPhone® customers.
   60 Million
   Americans are
   affected each year.
   More common than left-handed people
   How can we fix it? Talking.
   The more we talk, the more we’ll realize that these illnesses
   are not unique and that they are treatable.
   It’s how we’ll make it ok.
   A public survey showed most people
   thought mental illnesses were related to:
   THIS IS
   STIGMA.
   STRESS
   LACK OF WILLPOWER
   WEAKNESS
   1 in 7
   More common than
   people with tattoos
   

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7. Why is it hard to talk about mental and emotional
   problems/concerns?
   

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8. STUDIES SHOW
   ➤ Nature Biotechnology, March 2018 (covered by IHE)
   ➤ 39% scored in the moderate to severe depression range
   ➤ Compare with 6% of gen. pop. on same scale in same range
   ➤ Research Policy, May 2017 (covered by Physics Today & Science)
   ➤ 32% at risk of having/developing a mental illness, esp.
   depression
   ➤ 51% experience at least 2 symptoms of mental health
   problems, and this is twice as high as comparable non-grad-
   school pop.
   ➤ Gender minorities had significantly higher rates of problems than
   cis-men
   ➤ Work and organizational context (incl. satisfaction with mentorship/
   advising) are significant predictors of PhD students’ mental health
   ➤ Also institutional studies at, e.g., UC Berkeley, U Arizona, U
   Amsterdam
   

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9. UNIVERSITY & COMMUNITY RESOURCES
   TO PROMOTE MENTAL WELLBEING
   

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10. What mental wellbeing resources do you know of
    at your college/university?
    

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11. RESOURCES
    ➤ Student counseling center at campus health clinic: at-risk/crisis,
    getting started with therapy/counseling
    ➤ Depending on size/funding, you might be referred to an off-
    campus long-term therapist after only a few meetings. This is
    ok! They want you to access the help you need, within your
    means, and within the reach/scope of the counseling center.
    ➤ Check website for links to 24/7 emergency services like
    hotlines, local domestic violence shelter, etc.
    ➤ Ask your GP for a referral to a therapist who will accept your
    university health insurance
    ➤ Search the internet for sliding-scale/sliding-fee/pay-what-you-can
    counseling in your area
    ➤ Talk with peers, trusted colleague, and/or mentor (in your
    department or elsewhere)
    

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12. COPING TOOLS
    

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13. What do you do when you’re feeling overwhelmed?
    

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14. MY WELLBEING CHECKLIST FROM MY PHD
    

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15. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR MENTAL WELLBEING?
    ➤ Drink enough water daily
    ➤ Make getting a full night of sleep every night a priority (8-9 hours)
    ➤ Taking breaks at work to walk around the arboretum or building
    ➤ Exercise regularly (yoga, pilates, jogging, fitness classes, etc.)
    ➤ Have an exercise buddy!
    ➤ Check for free weekly fitness classes through grad and/or
    athletics program
    ➤ Try not to rely on caffeine and sugar to get your energy, since you’ll
    crash soon after
    ➤ Maintain your gut health with probiotics (someone’s therapist
    recommended this one for them; check with your doc)
    ➤ Get a massage every few months as your budget allows; check if
    health insurance will cover some cost if “prescribed” by your GP
    

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16. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR MENTAL WELLBEING?
    ➤ Enforce regular working hours. More than 50 hours per week is
    unsustainable and has diminishing (or even negative) returns
    ➤ Connect with colleagues (don’t suffer in silence)
    ➤ Spend regular time doing hobbies outside of work
    ➤ Cooking with others, gardening, team sports, artistic pursuits
    ➤ Spend time with loved ones (family, friends, significant other, etc.)
    ➤ Daily meditation (with an app like Headspace or Calm)
    ➤ Read a book for fun! Abbie likes Bill Bryson and Terry Pratchett
    ➤ Take real vacations. Turn on your email auto-responder and leave your
    laptop at home!
    ➤ Turn off notifications for work email (& social media apps) on phone
    ➤ Don’t check your results before going to bed (FOR REAL)
    ➤ See a counselor/therapist regularly, take prescribed medication
    

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17. WHAT HELPS YOU WHEN YOU’RE IN “PANIC MODE”?
    ➤ Get up from your desk and go for a walk, in a nature area on
    campus, doing loops around the building
    ➤ Take 10 slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths
    ➤ Have a (healthy) snack and a glass of water. Your brain can’t work
    when it’s out of fuel. There is time for this.
    ➤ Listen to a music playlist that helps you calm down and re-center
    yourself
    ➤ Use “stress ball”-type objects (like a fidget cube) to distract your
    mind and give it something else to focus on
    ➤ Break down Insurmountable Task into many bite-sized chunks.
    Write it all down, cross off as you do them. Use an analog list so
    that you actually cross it off and not just delete the item digitally
    ➤ “SOS” sessions in the Headspace meditation app
    

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18. How can you plan to take care of yourself before
    you become overwhelmed in grad school or your
    job?
    

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19. MENTAL WELLBEING, PRODUCTIVITY, AND TIME MANAGEMENT
    ➤ Often related in discussion and practice, but not the same
    ➤ Your schedule when teaching and taking classes will be different
    than your schedule when you’re doing research
    ➤ Work-life balance: working constantly will disrupt your personal
    life, negatively impact your mental health; not working enough
    will not lead to success in grad school or job
    ➤ Get regular feedback from advisor, check in with mentor
    ➤ Research does not have a linear input-output relation
    ➤ You will learn to manage your time; how enjoyable that process is
    is mostly up to you
    ➤ People at all career levels in academia can feel like they aren’t
    productive enough and struggle with mental wellbeing
    

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20. INTERNET RESOURCES
    

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21. LINKS TO RESOURCES
    ➤ Self-Care with Drs. Sarah, a podcast (see esp. ‘Meltdown’ episode)
    ➤ The Hilarious World of Depression, a podcast
    ➤ YouTube Yoga! "Yoga with Adriene", "Fightmaster Yoga"
    ➤ "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by Dr. D.D. Burns, a
    book on doing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on yourself,
    recommended by therapists
    ➤ "The PTSD Workbook" by Dr. M.B. Williams and Dr. S. Pouijula,
    recommended by social workers and therapists
    ➤ "Living Well With Depression and Bipolar Disorder" by J.
    McManamy
    ➤ #PhDchat, #ECRchat, @chron_ac, @academic_chatter on Twitter
    ➤ "5 Things to Do (And Not to Do) to Support Someone with
    Depression"
    ➤ MakeItOK.org: conversation scripts, posters, stats
    

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22. ARTICLES WITH ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVES: GENERAL
    ➤ "I’d Whisper to My Student Self: You Are Not Alone"
    ➤ "Modest Advice for New Graduate Students"
    ➤ Wear Your Voice’s guide to destigmatizing mental illnesses
    ➤ "A Cartoonist’s Playful and Pragmatic Mental Health Guide"
    ➤ "81 Awesome Mental Health Resources When You Can’t Afford a
    Therapist"
    ➤ "14 Free and Low-Cost Mental Health Resources"
    ➤ “20 Warning Signs Your Professor’s Abusing You”
    ➤ Really good advice columns like Captain Awkward, Ask Polly, Ask
    A Manager
    

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23. ARTICLES WITH ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVES: DEPRESSION
    ➤ "We Cannot Continue to Overlook ‘High-Functioning’
    Depression"
    ➤ "This Is What It’s Like To Live With High-Functioning
    Depression"
    ➤ "Letitia Wright Opens Up About Her Struggles With Depression,
    Advocates For Black Mental Health Awareness"
    ➤ "Learning That Depression Lies: My Mental Health Management
    Strategy"
    ➤ "A Day With: Depression"
    

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24. ARTICLES WITH ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVES: ANXIETY
    ➤ "A Day With: Social Anxiety"; "A Day With: Panic Attacks"
    ➤ "How I Learned to Make Friends with My Anxiety"
    ➤ "Anxiety Is An Invalid Excuse"
    ➤ "How To Talk Yourself Down From An Anxiety Spiral"
    

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25. ARTICLES WITH ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVES: ETC.
    ➤ Mental Health Awareness Week 2018 focusing on coping with
    stress
    ➤ "Why ADHD Is A Feminist Issue And What Happens When It’s
    Overlooked"
    ➤ "10 Signs That Made Me Realize I Was An Alcoholic"
    ➤ "Can Science Save Us From a Failed State of Burnout?"
    ➤ "Here’s What 'Millennial Burnout' is Like for 16 Different People"
    ➤ "Impostor Syndrome Isn’t The Problem — Toxic Workplaces Are"
    ➤ "How to Define Success for Yourself"
    ➤ "How Do You Keep Social Media From Destroying Your Mental
    Health?"
    

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26. SELF-CARE
    ➤ "23 Ways to Treat Yourself Without Buying or Eating Anything"
    ➤ "Is That Self-Care or Self-Sabotage?"
    ➤ @tinycarebot and @selfcare_tech on Twitter
    ➤ "What Nobody Tells You About Self-Care"
    ➤ "You Feel Like Shit" - an interactive flowchart (also useful in a
    crisis)
    

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27. QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
    ➤ What could you personally do to promote mental
    wellbeing?
    ➤ What steps could your home department take to
    promote mental wellbeing?
    

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29. STUDIES SHOW
    ➤ Nature Biotechnology, March 2018 (covered by IHE)
    ➤ 2,279 respondents, 90% PhD candidates, 38% bio &
    phys sciences
    ➤ 26 countries, 234 institutions
    ➤ 39% scored in the moderate to severe depression range
    ➤ Compare with 6% of gen. pop. on same scale in same
    range
    ➤ Gender minorities had significantly higher rates of
    problems than cis-men
    ➤ (Lack of) satisfaction with mentorship/advising is a
    predictor of mental health problems
    

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30. STUDIES SHOW
    ➤ Research Policy, May 2017 (covered by Physics Today &
    Science)
    ➤ 3,659 PhD candidates in Flanders Belgium, 66% STEM
    incl. biomedical
    ➤ 32% at risk of having/developing a mental illness, esp.
    depression
    ➤ 51% experience at least 2 symptoms of mental health
    problems, and this is twice as high as comparable non-
    grad-school pop.
    ➤ Odds of mental health problems significantly higher for
    women than men
    ➤ Work and organizational context are significant
    predictors of PhD students’ mental health
    

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31. ADVICE ON ADVISING
    ➤ “Good Advising” (written by a prof, for profs)
    ➤ What To Say when someone tells you about a mental health
    problem
    ➤ National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (your
    university may have institution access), productivity and
    wellbeing resources for researchers and mentors
    ➤ If you are a mandatory reporter (most are), inform your students
    that you are and strongly encourage them to go to the counseling
    center to get support without initiating a (sometimes re-
    traumatizing) legal procedure
    

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