Description
Book SynopsisMental 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 ContentsTable 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: Mental Health of First-Generation University Graduate Students: 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
