Mental Health among Higher Education Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Students

Mental Health among Higher Education Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Students argues that mental illness stigma surrounds not being able to cope with the rigors of academia is viewed as personal weakness. It examines the complex mental health issues in higher education and offers best practices for institutions from a communication approach.

Mental Health among Higher Education Faculty, Administrators, and Graduate Studentsaddresses how many academics who experience mental distress or mental illness are afraid to speak out because of cultural stigma and fears of career repercussions. Many academics’ reluctance to publicly disclose their struggles complicates attempts to understand their experiences through research or popular media, or to develop targeted mental health resources and institutional policies. This volume builds on the existing studies in this greatly under-researched area of mental health among faculty, administrators, and graduate students in higher education. The chapters’ research findings will help institutions communicate about mental health in culturally-competent and person-centered ways; create work environments conducive to mental well-being; and support their academic employees who have mental health challenges. This book argues that discussions of health and wellness, equity, workload expectations and productivity, and campus diversity must also cover chronic illness and disability, which include mental health and mental illness.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Katie Rose Guest Pryal

Preface

Teresa Heinz Housel

Acknowledgments

Teresa Heinz Housel

Part One: Mental Distress and Mental Illness in Academic Culture

Chapter One: The Perfect Storm of Mental Health-Related Issues in Academia and the Need for Critical Research and Policies

Teresa Heinz Housel

Chapter Two: Anxiety in Academia: An Autoethnographic Account

Andrea L. Meluch

Chapter Three: Structuration of U.S. Communication Graduate Students’ Stress

Rahul Mitra, Nubia Brewster, Patrice M. Buzzanell, Julia Grzywinski, Elizabeth-Ann Pandzich

Chapter Four: “Burn It Down”: The Graduate Student Burnout Experience

Victoria McDermott, Nike Bahr

Part Two: Intersections of Mental Health and Marginalized Academic Populations: Cultural Representations and Institutional Climates

Chapter Five: Effects of Chronic Exposure to Invalidation on People of Color in Academia: An Exploratory Study

Juan S. Muhamad, Jessica Wendorf Muhamad, Maria Elena Villar

Chapter Six: First-Generation Graduate and Professional Students in the United States: A Critical Narrative Review

Erinn C. Cameron

Chapter Seven: Give and Take: Exploring the Role of Confidants When Friends Disclose Chronic and/or Mental Health-Related Information

Robert D. Hall

Chapter Eight: The Academic Amygdala: Tropes of PTSD in Higher Education News Coverage

Alena Amato Ruggerio, Erica Knotts

Part Three: Institutional Policies on Mental Health and Recommendations for Best Practices

Chapter Nine: Culturally Sensitive Mental Health Support for Higher Education Employees

Lukasz Swiatek. Ursula Edgington

Chapter Ten: Having Emotional Support Animals at College

Susan Hafen

Chapter Eleven: Navigating Boundaries While Creating Safe Spaces for Faculty and Students

Sandra Smeltzer, Dave M. Walton, Nicole Campbell

Chapter Twelve: The Mental Health Impacts of Making a Workers Compensation Claim for a Mental Injury

Philip Dearman, Beth Edmondson

Appendix: Mental-Health Related Resources for the Communication Classroom

Teresa Heinz Housel, Andrea L. Meluch, Vanessa R. Sperduti, Sandra Smeltzer