Mental health in academia: what’s it all about?

Jack Caudwell

doi:10.1042/bio04202010

Mental health in academia: what’s it all about?

The Biochemist ◽

10.1042/bio04202010 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 50-52

Author(s):

Jack Caudwell

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Issues ◽

The Public ◽

Mental Health Issues

Should your PhD sacrifice your mental health? Seems like a silly question to ask in 2020, maybe even rhetorical to some. However, a great deal of postgraduate researchers experience mental health issues as an unwanted by-product of their PhD. At what point does this become too much? Mental health has become one of the biggest issues put under the public spotlight in recent years, so why do we still have this archaic culture in academia? Maybe it is time for a change in how we think about what is and is not acceptable, and what resources are available to those of us who find ourselves struggling with our mental health during our research.

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The distress of Iranian adults during the Covid-19 pandemic – More distressed than the Chinese and with different predictors

10.1101/2020.04.03.20052571 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi ◽

Maryam Mokhtari Dinani ◽

Abbas Nazarian Madavani ◽

Jizhen Li ◽

Stephen X. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Health Issues ◽

Chinese Adults ◽

The Public ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Distress Level ◽

High Death ◽

Peritraumatic Distress ◽

Death Count

SummaryEarly papers on the mental health of the public during the Covid-19 pandemic surveyed participants from China. Outside of China, Iran has emerged as one of the most affected countries with a high death count and rate. The paper presents the first empirical evidence from Iranian adults during the Covid-19 pandemic on their level of distress and its predictors. On March 25–28, 2020, a dire time for Covid-19 in Iran, we surveyed 1058 adults from all 30 provinces in Iran using the Covid-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). The distress level of Iranian adults (mean: 34.54; s.d.: 14.92) was significantly higher (mean difference: 10.9; t=22.7; p<0.0001; 95% CI: 10.0 to 11.8) than that of Chinese adults (mean: 23.65; s.d.: 5.45) as reported in a prior study with the same measure of Covid-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). We also found the predictors of distress in Iran vary from those in China. Our findings that the predictors of distress in Iran vary from those in China suggest the need to study the predictors of mental health in individual countries during the Covid-19 pandemic to effectively identify and screen for those more susceptible to mental health issues.FundingNone

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Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health in India

10.31234/osf.io/fkjsx ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anjali Kanojia

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Sleep Disturbance ◽

Health Issues ◽

The Public ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

The World ◽

Current Scenario ◽

Novel Coronavirus

The emergence of novel CoronaVirus Disease (COVID-19) has crossed borders at a lightening speed, infecting people all over the world within China and all over the globe. This virus has impacted in a way that has imposed mandatory lockdowns in many countries including India. However, since the lockdown has been imposed, attention is being focussed on the economic repercussions, migrants and livelihoods. Mental health issues such as anxiety, worry, fear of infection, sleep disturbance and in some cases suicide are side lined. This paper reviews the current scenario of COVID-19 in India in the context of mental health and related issues. Alongside, looks at ways to build awareness among the public on mental health during COVID-19.

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