Read on Twitter
I’ve received a lot of questions about how I coped with my #mentalhealth 
in academia. Here’s a thread of things that helped me:
#PhD #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek2020
#STEM
#WomenInSTEM
in academia. Here’s a thread of things that helped me:#PhD #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek2020
#STEM
#WomenInSTEM
1. CBT - Cognitive behavioural therapy
“a type of talking treatment which focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and behaviour, and teaches you coping skills for dealing with different problems.” https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/about-cbt/
“a type of talking treatment which focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and behaviour, and teaches you coping skills for dealing with different problems.” https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/about-cbt/
CBT helped me particularly with imposter syndrome and issues with confidence and feelings of satisfaction/fulfilment around my work
2. Talking to other people about what was going on with my PhD wether it was fellow PhD students or other academics I finally began to ask for help.
3. Asking for help. This is absolutely crucial to recovery and is essential when navigating disability in academia.
4. Accessing disability support services - I wish I had done this at the beginning of my #PhD but at the time I didn’t even know mental health issues could be categorised as a disability.
This is very common and is unfortunately due to institutional ableism in academia that does not recognise the full spectrum of disability and access issues, in order to evade responsibility from having to meet the needs (see: rights) of disabled students
5. Educating myself about my condition and finding a community of individuals who were going through similar experiences. It took me a long time to exit denial of my condition into acceptance and that’s when I began to educate myself and share my story.
Learning about my condition meant I was better equipped to deal with the symptoms. It also helped me feel empowered and connected to other people who had the same condition.
6. A routine.
7. Being kind to myself.
8. Doing things other than my PhD that made me feel fulfilled and stimulated. This kept my confidence high by allowing me to use other skills and express other aspects of myself that I couldn’t do in my PhD work.
