Location: Duarte, CA, US
Status: Biology PhD Student
Why do you think mental health in academia is important? Academic culture is steeped in toxic notions that we are not good scientists unless we are overworked and suffering. Too often I hear academics, particularly in STEM, perpetuate this environment by stating that since they suffered, others should too or they will not become adequate scientists. Further, it is expected that developed mental health conditions should be ignored and overcome rather than helped, and that this help must not interfere with scientific productivity, which is an impossible task. For the future of scientists like me, this cannot continue.