{"id":222,"date":"2023-06-26T15:31:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T13:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/?p=222"},"modified":"2026-09-01T12:28:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:28:25","slug":"s02-episode-3-mental-health-during-the-doctorate-with-scholar-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/2023\/06\/26\/s02-episode-3-mental-health-during-the-doctorate-with-scholar-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health during Your Doctorate with Scholar Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Content Advisory: This episode features a discussion of mental health challenges and positive strategies to deal with mental health.<\/em> There is a very brief mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of self-harm or suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the Seelesorge hotline<\/a> in Germany at 0800 1110 111 or get emergency help by calling 112. Additional resources for mental health are available in the links below.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, we talk to Sandra Neumann of Scholar Minds about mental health during your doctorate. We’ll discuss how to manage the challenges of doing a doctorate and what strategies exist to help you! We’ll also learn more about Scholar Minds, a ECR-led initiative for mental health during the doctorate, and how you can get involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Highlights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n

„I think the most important message for us to convey is, please don’t [wait to] come to us when you are already suffering. Come to us when you feel like, „Oh, I’m not sure. I think I need, maybe I need to be there in a preventative manner.““ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

„I think mental health should be, call it however you want to call it, but should be part of a curriculum. It should be […] included in the PhD you’re doing, be it a graduate program that includes fixed courses or when you do an individual PhD“<\/p>\nfrom our interview with Sandra Neumann<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

SUMMARY<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

English:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, Sandra Neumann, a doctoral candidate and co-founder of Scholar Minds, discusses the organization’s mission to aid early career researchers facing mental health issues, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scholar Minds is a nonprofit focused on raising mental health awareness through events and discussions and advocates for changes in academic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra shares survey findings indicating that 50% of PhD candidates have reported mental health disorders, with many feeling dissatisfied with their PhD training, especially during the pandemic. She notes the ways in which many students experience great stress and feel reluctant to seek help for fear of appearing weak. Sandra encourages finding trustworthy peers to talk about mental health and underscores the importance of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholar Minds offers mental health toolkits for groups and especially graduate schools, centered on coping with issues like imposter syndrome, setting PhD goals, and recognizing signs of depression and anxiety. The organization aims to promote preventive measures to help individuals before crises arise. Additionally, Sandra suggests ways to discuss mental health interventions with supervisors and encourages successful academics to share personal struggle and failures to foster a supportive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra argues that mental health support should be part of the PhD curriculum and advocates for regular counseling to check on student well-being, as proactive mental health monitoring can greatly benefit PhD candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concludes by highlighting that mental health, like physical health, should be a regular focus rather than addressed only when issues arise. She advises prioritizing self-care and managing expectations to relieve stress, emphasizing the importance of understanding what is within one\u2019s control during the PhD journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[see the full transcript of the episode here<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

German:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In dieser Folge spricht Sandra Neumann, Doktorandin und Mitbegr\u00fcnderin von Scholar Minds, \u00fcber das Ziel der Organisation, Nachwuchswissenschaftler:innen bei psychischen Problemen zu unterst\u00fctzen \u2013 insbesondere w\u00e4hrend der COVID-19-Pandemie. Scholar Minds ist eine gemeinn\u00fctzige Organisation, die durch Veranstaltungen und Gespr\u00e4che das Bewusstsein f\u00fcr psychische Gesundheit sch\u00e4rft und sich f\u00fcr Ver\u00e4nderungen an akademischen Einrichtungen einsetzt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra erl\u00e4utert Umfrageergebnisse, laut denen 50 % der teilnehmenden Doktorand:innen von psychischen Problemen berichten; viele sind mit ihrer Promotionszeit unzufrieden, besonders w\u00e4hrend der Pandemie. Sie weist darauf hin, dass viele unter starkem Stress stehen und z\u00f6gern, sich Hilfe zu suchen aus Angst, schwach zu wirken. Sandra ermutigt dazu, sich mit vertrauensw\u00fcrdigen Kolleg:innen \u00fcber psychische Gesundheit auszutauschen, und unterstreicht die Bedeutsamkeit von Unterst\u00fctzung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholar Minds bietet Toolkits zum Thema psychische Gesundheit f\u00fcr Gruppen und insbesondere f\u00fcr Graduiertenschulen an. Diese behandeln Themen wie das Hochstapler-Syndrom (Imposter-Syndrom), das Setzen von Zielen f\u00fcr die Promotion sowie das Erkennen von Anzeichen f\u00fcr Depressionen und Angstzust\u00e4nde. Ziel der Organisation ist es, pr\u00e4ventive Ma\u00dfnahmen zu f\u00f6rdern, um Einzelpersonen zu helfen, bevor Krisen entstehen. Zudem gibt Sandra Tipps, wie man das Thema psychische Gesundheit bei Betreuer:innen ansprechen kann, und ermutigt erfolgreiche Wissenschaftler:innen dazu, \u00fcber eigene Schwierigkeiten und Misserfolge zu sprechen, um ein unterst\u00fctzendes Umfeld zu schaffen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra pl\u00e4diert daf\u00fcr, Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr die psychische Gesundheit fest in Promotionsprogramme zu integrieren, und setzt sich f\u00fcr regelm\u00e4\u00dfige Beratungsangebote zum Wohlbefinden der Doktorand:innen ein, da ein proaktives Monitoring der psychischen Gesundheit ihnen erheblich zugutekommen kann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abschlie\u00dfend betont sie, dass die psychische Gesundheit \u2013 ebenso wie die k\u00f6rperliche \u2013 regelm\u00e4\u00dfig im Fokus stehen sollte, anstatt sie erst dann zu thematisieren, wenn bereits Probleme aufgetreten sind. Sie r\u00e4t dazu, Selbstf\u00fcrsorge und den Umgang mit Erwartungen zur Stressbew\u00e4ltigung in den Vordergrund zu stellen, und hebt hervor, wie wichtig es ist, w\u00e4hrend der Promotionszeit zu verstehen, worauf man selbst Einfluss nehmen kann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Content Advisory: This episode features a discussion of mental health challenges and positive strategies to deal with mental health. There is a very brief mention of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of self-harm or suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the Seelesorge hotline in Germany at 0800 1110 111 … \u201eMental Health during Your Doctorate with Scholar Minds\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7050,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1763,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/1763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}