Managing Stress, Burnout, Anxiety, & Mental Health Challenges in Grad School in Academic Research

In this episode, I collected my responses to questions I received on a panel discussion hosted by the American Chemical Society. I redacted any names and read the questions myself. Here is the list of topics with timestamps.

0:28 What is your background and how did you become interested in mental health of academic researchers?

2:00 Is there something special about researchers that make them especially susceptible to mental health challenges?

4:39 We often hear that academics are not good at saying no. How do you think about how to say no to people even about opportunities that may be exciting?

6:26 How do you know you are burned out, depressed, or anxious?

8:22 How do you respond to a friend or coworker who comes to you with an admission that they might be burned out, depressed, or anxious?

9:22 What are some resources on campus that you can reach out to for coping with anxiety and depression?

10:34 What are some self-care routines you do as alternative coping strategies for stress, burnout, and other metal health challenges?

12:21 How do you cope with mental health challenge or other negative situation that arises because of your relationship with your advisor?

15:47 Should I feel bad about taking a weekday off for self-care?

16:23 How do you get out of doing things you don’t want to do?

18:23 How do you work with a PI who is not transparent about their expectations?

19:15 What if I need to switch labs at the end of my PhD?

20:14 How do I know where the supportive labs are before I join?

21:26 Do I have to do a PhD to have a fulfilling job in research?