Dr. Jennifer Paxton acknowledges that her feelings of inadequacy had always been there but were amplified during the transition to motherhood. She opens up about an interaction with an empathetic colleague that shocked her into seeking support. TW/CW: Themes of suicidal ideation

A Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, PI of a tissue engineering lab, wife and mother, Jennifer opened up in the last episode about parenting as an academic during COVID-19. This is the second part of her story. 

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Jennifer’s blog piece – ‘Return of the Mummy – the trials and triumphs of a life post maternity leave.’
• Paxton Lab website
• Jennifer’s lecturing profile

Helpful health and wellbeing books

•  Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig
•  Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 10/09/2021.

Sound: Theme music is “Mindset” by Ketsa; podcast edited by DanPatricksAudio.

Senior Lecturer, PI, wife and mother, Dr. Jennifer Paxton, opened up about feelings of embarrassment, guilt, anger and acceptance in response to professional contacts seeing her home life in online meetings and lessons. She highlighted specific frustrations of being a parent in Academia. She also courageously opened up in the final 15 minutes about her decision making process for having a child. She, like many of us, was putting off major personal milestones because of the pressure of academia.

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

- Jennifer’s blog piece – ‘Return of the Mummy – the trials and triumphs of a life post maternity leave.’

- Paxton Lab website

- Jennifer’s lecturing profile

- Helpful health and wellbeing books

Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig

Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 10/09/2021.

Sound: Theme music is “Mindset” by Ketsa; podcast edited by DanPatricksAudio. 

5th year Health Psychology PhD Candidate and creator of the Dear Grad Student podcast, Elana Gloger, chats about maintaining wellness - creating space between where you’re at, and your tipping point to becoming unwell. She encourages leaning in to your unique needs and remembering that ‘you’re not other people.’

Elana opened up previously, in episode 27,  about how premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) impacted her life and PhD before it was well managed.

CW: swearing, sexual references

This episode touches on:

-  Running through the woods, reality TV, and the desire to be a mother

-  Alleviating fears of medication

-  Accepting that seeking external help is not a weakness

-  Impacts of unmanaged PMDD on a partner

-  Common treatment options for PMDD

-  Selecting an appropriate and affordable provider

-  The annoying fact that exercise actually helps

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

Dear Grad Student Podcast

- Twitter: @deargradstudent

- Instagram: @deargradstudentpod

- Facebook: Dear Grad Student

- Website: deargradstudent.com

- Mental health podcast episodes: deargradstudent.com/mental-health

PMDD resources

- @iapmdglobal (twitter) and iapmd.org (website) provides evidence-based information about PMDD.

- Tory Eisenlohr-Moul studies menstrual cycle effects on PMDD

YouTube: ‘Your cycle in 3 minutes’ – contemporary dance interpretation of the impacts of the menstrual cycle

App: Flo – for learning about and starting to track your menstrual cycle

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 14/01/2022.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa

Emily chats with Elana Gloger, who opens up about how premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) impacted her life and PhD before it was well managed.

TW/CW: Suicidal ideation, swearing

This episode covers:

- Elana’s favourite, I mean F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-E video game, her childhood likeness to Angelica from the Rugrats, and being a child of divorce
- A description of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and premenstrual exacerbation (PME)
- How Elana’s diagnosis of PMDD unfolded
- An explanation of the menstrual cycle!
- The moment Elana decided to get support for mismanaged PMDD
- The potential future clash between PMDD medication, pregnancy, and applying for tenure track
- The impact of unmanaged PMDD on Elana’s PhD
- First steps to take if you think you might have PMDD

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

- Dear Grad Student Podcast
    - Twitter: @deargradstudent   
    - Instagram: @deargradstudentpod
    - Facebook: Dear Grad Student
    - Website: deargradstudent.com
    - Mental health podcast episodes: deargradstudent.com/mental-health

- PMDD resources
    - @iapmdglobal (twitter) and iapmd.org (website) provides evidence-based information about PMDD.
    - Tory Eisenlohr-Moul studies menstrual cycle effects on PMDD

- YouTube: ‘Your cycle in 3 minutes’ – contemporary dance interpretation of the impacts of the menstrual cycle

- App: Flo – for learning about and starting to track your menstrual cycle

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 14/01/2022.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Emily chats with Dr. Andy Fraass, who opens up about support for anxiety that comes from his wife and daughters, improved sleep hygiene, and challenging intrusive thoughts.

Andy opened up previously, in episode 25, about social anxiety, learning he couldn’t trust his own self-perception, and the impacts of academia on family life.

This episode covers:

-  Self-educating about indigenous cultures, science fantasy, and achieving the bucket list goals of professorship and family.

-  Family support systems

-  Meditation and improved sleep hygiene

-  Methods of overcoming negative thought patterns

-  The role parenting can play in encouraging self-care and self-management of symptoms

-  The importance of supervisors being forgiving and understanding with students

-  The surprising value in group therapy for those with social anxiety

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• App: Calm – for improving health and happiness, and for sleep stories
• Andy’s blog about anxiety in academia

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

Recorded: 19/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

Emily chats with Dr. Andy Fraass, who opens up about social anxiety, learning he couldn’t trust his own self-perception, and the impacts of academia on family life.

This episode covers:

• The boy behind the family man, a career stemming from childhood media (Jurassic Park), and single-celled creatures that tell us about climate change and evolution
• Andy’s family history of mental illness, and academics
• The increased difficulty of hiding social anxiety with age, exacerbation of symptoms, and academic requirements for networking
• The tenure track interview that made Andy realise he couldn’t trust his perception of his own performance
• Post tenure-track openness about generalised and social anxiety disorders, and panic attacks
• The impacts of academic pressure on family life
• The mental health impacts of choosing to stay within an industry that can have significant detrimental effects on family

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• App: Calm – for improving health and happiness
• Andy’s blog about anxiety in academia

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded: 19/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa 

TW/CW: Bullying and abuse

Emily chats with Andrea Hayward, a Project Manager for the CACTUS Communications ‘Joy and Stress Triggers: A global survey on mental health among researchers.’ They discuss open-ended answers from the survey, highlighting what institutions can do to ease work-related pressures, reduce barriers to seeking help, and encourage personal wellbeing of researchers. Andrea also opens up, for the first time, about experiences she had during her Masters, including being made to feel like she was never good enough.

This episode covers:

• The purpose of CACTUS Communications and how the organisation became involved in the researcher mental health space
• How Andrea’s work on the CACTUS Mental Health Initiative has made her aware, for the first time, of the psychological experiences she had during her Masters, including being made to feel like she was never good enough
• The role of managing academia-induced stressors shouldn’t fall solely on the researcher
• Suggestions to reduce barriers to seeking help and support in academia
• What institutions can do to reduce work-related pressures and help encourage work-life balance and personal wellbeing of researchers
• Some initiatives that are assisting researcher mental health
• Different types of bullying
• Improving policies to feel valued, safe, and included in academia

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Activities under the CACTUS Mental Health initiative:

The CACTUS Mental Health Survey reports

Twitter: CACTUS Mental Health Initiative

The CACTUS Mental Health Webinar series

The CACTUS Mental Health Video series

Researchers and Their Stories

‘R Voice’ – a private community forum for researchers to talk openly about what they’re going through

• Mental health Internationally Delivering Support (MINDS) conference page
• Academic mental health networks

Dragonfly Mental Health workshops available for universities and institutes to provide concrete steps for improving researcher mental health

PhD Balance

TAE Consortium (Transforming Academic Ecosytems)

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Recorded: 12/11/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa

Emily chats with Seda Battilani, who opens up about juggling medication trials with work, disclosing medication use to a supervisor, and social media accounts for people with ADHD.

Seda opened up previously, in episode 22, about anxiety disorder, and pursuing an ADHD diagnosis as an international student.

This episode covers:

• YouTube obsessions, choosing someone to share a life with, and the desire to settle in one country long-term
• Juggling the impact of medication trials with work
• Disclosing medication use to a supervisor and asking for extensions
• Learning to cope better over time
• The importance of honest communication
• How ADHD can present
• Rejection sensitivity
• Social media accounts for people with ADHD

If you find this episode valuable, and have some spare change, please consider supporting the podcast!

Resources:

• Good places to start for ADHD
  • Insta: @the_mini_adhd_coach
  • TikTok: @connordewolfe
• Seda is available on Twitter and via email

Full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson. If you find these transcripts useful, please consider supporting accessibility! 

Mental health support: please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

Interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you. Please submit this brief form.

You can find out more about Voices of Academia & other personal stories at @academicvoices or our website.

Recorded: 07/09/2021.

Sound: Mindset by Ketsa is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.