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Dismantling the Ivory Tower: Systemic Issues That Might Impact Your Mental Health

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Managing your Mental Health during your PhD

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on systemic issues embedded within the academy, looking at the evidence that the academic ivory tower is designed for the few not the many. Topics explored include racism, bully and harassment, sexism, ableism, and being a first generation student, all accompanied by lived experience accounts from PhD students.

(Trigger Warnings: suicidal ideation, depression, discrimination, anxiety, homophobia, racism, sexual harassment, bullying, classism, ageism, ableism)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Not that those who experience discrimination are not superhumanly resilient, because they often have to be. But it shouldn’t have to be this way.

  2. 2.

    Just because something is hard to fix, doesn’t mean our institutions shouldn’t try.

  3. 3.

    Perhaps that is change after all.

  4. 4.

    Personally prefer to use the term disability as my mental illness can be disabling at times. I also choose to use “disabled” when it comes to discussing my mental illnesses, to fight my own internalised ableism around the word “disabled”. This is of course, my own choice.

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    Zoë J. Ayres

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Ayres, Z.J. (2022). Dismantling the Ivory Tower: Systemic Issues That Might Impact Your Mental Health. In: Managing your Mental Health during your PhD. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14194-2_8

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