In this post I’d like to develop one idea that came up at the 9th steemit austria meetup of how to pursue a career in academia: „I will only pursue a PhD with a psychotherapist on my side or a strong and functioning network of fuckbuddies.“ Let’s start with the sad story by Christie Wilcox telling the episode of Sarah Boon, a successful PostDoc unnoticeably slipping into academic hell trap:

It’s good to have a mental health professional you can check in with,” says Jones. “You might not realize, if you are functioning well, that you are acting abnormally or have obsessive or compulsive behavior.” The good news is that support systems are available for academics who need them.

Which support systems? Faculty or staff health plan? If you know about any, here in Vienna, let us all know about in the comment section!

Where’s my bush knife?

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@sciencevienna, who is cruising since 2013 on the meta level of academia has not heard about good news, at least not in Vienna. With an updating glance to the center for doctoral studies of University of Vienna, @sciencevienna is amazed how the mental health issue among academics is left out. Whereas at WU you have the so called WU-Seelsorge, mental health issues does not seem to be on the official agenda specifically for doctoral candidates, yet.

What can I do, when I’m not religious, when I’m of Muslim believe, of Jewish believe? Probably the academic selection model was effective enough to hold back students with immigration experience:

I want to thank the coalition negotiating team, Chancellor Kurz and Vice Chancellor Strache

_{Quote by Klement Tockner, Austrian Science Fund}

Well, this is the kind of cynical unspoken humor we are cultivating in every day’s life here in Vienna. The homepages of the WU Seelsorge are not even in English because when we manage to climb the academic hierarchy we’re rather leaving the country than torture ourselves. Braindrain over Braingain! But let’s get back to Christie Wilcox’ article

[…]leaders and managers within colleges and labs need to create an environment where concerned academics feel comfortable opening up. “There is a fear that if you bring mental illness up, people are going to respond negatively to it,” he says. “You feel like you can’t talk about it with your superiors because you’re afraid they’re going to misunderstand […] Mental illness happens to people like any other illness, whether that is diabetes or heart disease. And seeing mental health professionals is the best way to deal with it […] The stigma of mental illness currently keeps many academics silent about their struggles, says Jones, and it needs to be eliminated.

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Let’s break the silence!

Science happens in your head and heart inbetween conversations with your colleagues, not in dusty old institutions!

Yours @sciencevienna