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.
In other words, the vulnerable individual is likely to "read" more into a forbidden thought, just as a chronically anxious employee, for example, tends to read more into the boss's tone of voice or facial expression.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. "On the other hand," warns Barlow, "if you feel that events are essentially out of your control, you're probably going to be much more vulnerable" to forbidden or unwanted thoughts. The more in-control we feel, Barlow says, the less likely we are to interpret any event, whether external or coming from inside our heads, as worthy of concern or rumination. One factor may be what psychologists call "controllability." Closely related to self-esteem, controllability is the measure of an individual's sense of power, or control, over events in his or her life. Researchers have also identified certain higher-level cognitive factors that can influence the kinds of thoughts the brain latches on to, and how it interprets them. The findings can also help explain fantasies like Beth's, which, according to Barlow and other researchers, are quite common among young, stressed-out parents.
These findings could help explain why drugs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft can inhibit or moderate the fixation process.
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