Let’s talk about researchers’ mental well-being

ABSTRACT

Although mental health concerns among university populations are on the rise, discussions of academia-related trauma rarely occur in published outlets. They are usually limited to informal talks and the private exchange of anecdotes during conferences and workshops. This is problematic because accounts of how to mitigate stress, anxiety and depression in the academic environment are valuable for both early-career and senior researchers. In being honest about the strategies that I have developed to protect my mental well-being, both during my fieldwork in Central Asia and the academic environment more generally, I do not wish to make totalizing generalizations about researchers’ trauma experiences in our discipline. By contrast, I hope that my account presented here will invite further academic discussion about the possibility of academia-related trauma and its implications for scholars’ work and mental well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• mental health
• trauma
• fieldwork
• academic bullying

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For the time being, there are several initiatives by local researchers that seek to provide especially early-career scholars from Central Asia with a space where they can exchange with other fellows about their fears and traumas. For example see Dr Gulzat Botoeva and others' USTA Mentorship Program.