Self-management Mental Health Support
Pursuing a PhD is inspiring, hard work, and at times joyful and deceptive; a boot-camp for intrinsic motivation, perseverance, dedication and diligence. It also provides for an in-depth experience in dealing with pressure, competition and job insecurity. However valuable such experience might be and however important the meta-level of such learnings might be, doing PhD research should not be bad for the mental or physical health of the researchers.
Innumerable reports, surveys and analyses have been published throughout the last decade or two, some of which are reassuring (along the lines of “you are not alone”), some of which are providing elements of coaching and others a rational digest of the issues and factors that are supposedly contributing to the stress of doctoral researchers, thus triggering phases of eventually deteriorating mental health. Within the following sections you will find a selection of relevant articles, information about some qualified tools for self-testing about crisis vulnerability and self-management if slightly in crisis, carefully chosen addresses where to go when trying to prevent crisis mode and a choice of entertaining books sharing international experiences by your peers.
Keywords (in alphabetical order): Anxiety, Burnout, Depression, Imposter Syndrome, Mindfulness, Prevention, Procrastination, Relaxation, Self-testing, Sleeping issues, Stress management, Time management
IMPORTANT - Please note:
None of the content below is intended for use if clinically depressed or suffering from other serious clinical conditions. If in doubt, please make sure to contact the Heidelberg University psycho-social counseling for students (PCS; in German: Psychosoziale Beratung für Studierende) or its anonymous online counselling service. The PCS offers students expert counselling in all personal conflict situations. Both counselling sessions and online counselling are strictly confidential. No fees are charged. Should there be need for psychotherapy, the PCS offers help in finding a suitable therapist.
Training resources
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Meditation Apps
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7Mind | Languages: German only Target: meditations for all kinds of purposes, e.g. relaxation, falling asleep, combating anxiety, despair or anger Format: various forms of exercises, 2-minute meditations, option for reminders for mindfulness trainings during the day Access: App-store; a basic version is for free; an elaborate version comes with a monthly fee |
Buddhify | Languages: English Target: to support meditation and mindfulness-training; especially good for beginners Format: short exercises (6-10min), more than 80 guided meditations of various lengths and for various thematic fields, and a meditation-timer Access: App store to purchase the app for a small fee |
Calm | Languages: English Target: to support meditation and mindfulness-training; stress reduction Format: offers different modules for topics ranging from mindfulness to better sleep Access: App-store; a basic version is for free; an elaborated version comes with a monthly fee |
Stop, Breathe & Think | Languages: English Target: to support meditation, relaxation and mindfulness-training Format: guided meditations and a meditation-timer; offers a mood-quiz to start each session in order to support the user for identifying a suitable meditation reflecting the current mental, physical, and emotional status; meditations can also be started without the supporting quiz; a dashboard captures progress and information about predominant emotions Access: App-store; a basic version is for free; some features require a cost-free sign-up, some come as in-App purchases for a small fee |