Highlighting mental health in the scientific community of the planet

The severity of anxiety and depression symptoms in the planet’s scientific community is higher than in the general population of the United States, according to a study led by a researcher at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and published in Astronomy of nature.

“After reading about so much anxiety and depression in the academic community, and as someone who loves both planetary science and psychology, I felt I had to do something because there are so many people who are suffering,” said David Trang, assistant researcher at Hawai’i. ‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the time of this research and a graduate student in the counseling psychology program at UH Hilo.

Prompted by growing recognition of the mental health crisis within the academic and research communities, Trang and co-authors from Hawai’i Pacific University, the UH Manoa Shidler College of Business, the Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA and the US Geological Survey surveyed over 300 members of the planetary science community.

The survey requested demographic information and included common assessments to measure the severity of anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms.

Survey results showed that anxiety and depression are a major problem within the planetary sciences, especially among graduate students and entrepreneurial scientists.

The authors also found that anxiety, depression or stress symptoms appear more among marginalized groups, such as women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. And further, when examining the correlation between marginalized communities and considering leaving planetary science, LGBTQ+ respondents were more likely to be uncertain about remaining in the field.

“Some of my colleagues have left the scientific field because the academic workplace was too much for their well-being,” Trang said. “This is so unfortunate because science would benefit from anyone who is passionate about research, as they could contribute so much to the field.”

The authors hope that this work will bring to light aspects that some suspected existed in planetary science.

“This work marks the beginning of the changes needed to improve sanity in planetary science,” said Trang. “I hope to continue to uncover what drives these mental health issues and together develop solutions that will improve well-being, which in turn will increase the quality of research and productivity. Addressing mental health will inevitably improve diversity, equity and learning without distinctions, where are connected.”

In the near future, Trang hopes to hold psychoeducational workshops based on psychotherapy concepts to begin improving mental health in the planetary sciences and possibly serve as a model for improving mental health elsewhere in the university.