Mental health in STEM fields
STEM professions are known for cultivating high-stress environments.
Often, employees work long hours, face deadlines, and deal with
scientific explorations that have high potential for failure. The reigning pressure to publish isn’t helped by metrics that measure journal
impact and citations, while publications still dominate the list of criteria for
promotion and merit raises. The process of peer review can be brutal,
and funding is scarce, meaning that rejection is common. It goes without
saying that the STEM workforce is also susceptible to problems found in any workplace, like bullying, poor management, interpersonal
conflict, and turnover. These stressors negatively affect mental health
overall.
Moreover, in addition to the nature of the work, those who are
underrepresented (e.g., women [6], persons excluded from science for
ethnicity and race [7], LGBTQ individuals [8]) face overt
discrimination, harassment, and microaggressions at alarming rates. Such toxic work environment leads to burnout over time,
resulting in the loss of exceptional contributors to the STEM
discipline.