![]() Kinman used the health and safety executive's health and safety at work framework to assess the views of some 20,000 academics, and found "considerably higher" levels of psychological distress than in the population as a whole. Research by Gail Kinman, professor of occupational health psychology at the University of Bedfordshire, on behalf of the UCU, offers one of the few pieces of data on mental health problems among academics. What we have not been able to get rid of are the external pressures from government funding and the academic marketplace." He adds: "But there are measures to counter that and there has been a lot of change for the good. He says there are "still people in senior positions in academia who actually don't care". "There's still a degree of 'if you can't stand the heat, you shouldn't be here'," says Swann. Universities, including Imperial, have improved systems to help, yet academia remains "pretty macho". The intense pressure of doctoral and post-doctoral study, and early-career academia can also reveal existing mental health problems, he adds. Swann says most academics are stressed rather than mentally unwell: "They are thinking about their work and the consequences of not being as good as they should be they're having difficulty switching off and feeling guilty if they're not working seven days a week."Īcademics and researchers can become isolated and not realise how "out of kilter" their working lives are, he says. He says: "They all have to produce results – you are only as good as your research rating or as good as your ability to bring in funding for research." Nottingham offers one-to-one and group help to students and staff, including support specifically targeted at men, who make up only a third of those seeking help, a figure likely to reflect the continuing stigma over seeking help for mental illness.ĭr Alan Swann of Imperial College London, chair of the higher education occupational physicians committee, blamed "demands for increased product and productivity" for rising levels of mental health problems among academics. Figures show more working days are now lost to the mental health problems than any other health issue. Hunt said higher education should not be stigmatised for the increase in mental health issues, since it reflected a similar increase in wider society. In one case, a department's top position in a research profile "became a poisonous thing because everyone then fights to maintain that". So instead of internal aspiration helping them to do well it actually hinders them."Īcademics are also caught up in a range of cycles, from league tables and student satisfaction surveys to research league tables, that dominate thinking, she adds. "By that I mean when someone is aiming for and constantly expecting really high standards, so that even when there is a positive outcome they feel they have fallen short. "There are increasing levels of anxiety, both generalised and acute, levels of stress, of depression and levels of what I would call perfectionism," she says. Pat Hunt, head of Nottingham University's counselling service for staff and students and a member of the UK body for heads of university counselling services, said all universities were experiencing an increase in mental health problems. ![]() ![]() Academics experience higher stress than those in the wider population, the survey revealed. However, a study published in 2013 by the University and College Union (UCU) used health and safety executive measures, assessed against a large sample of over 14,000 university employees, to reveal growing stress levels among academics prompted by heavy workloads, a long hours culture and conflicting management demands. The article, which reported instances of depression, sleep issues, eating disorders, alcoholism, self-harming, and even suicide attempts among PhD students, has been shared hundreds of thousands of times and elicited comments outlining similar personal experiences from students and academics.īut while anecdotal accounts multiply, mental health issues in academia are little-researched and hard data is thin on the ground. A recent blog on the Guardian Higher Education Network blog, which highlighted a "culture of acceptance" in universities around mental health issues, has received an unprecedented response, pointing to high levels of distress among academics. ![]()
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