This post is part of our blog series The Unwritten Curriculum. Check out our posts in this series: How to apply to grad school, The grad student life, How to submit a paper, Demystifying the qualifying exams, How to do a remote postdoc, How to apply for a tenure track faculty job in ecology, Paths to ecology I, II, III, IV, and V, How to prepare for a faculty job interview, and How to give a great (job) talk.
Even before the pandemic, student mental health was a serious and growing problem. Graduate students in particular suffer from anxiety and depression at rates six times that of the general population. Despite increasing awareness and discussion of student mental health, getting help can be challenging. Fortunately, Stanford does have a variety of mental health resources, compiled here. (Note, there are also a number of identity-specific resources such as those for Black, or LGBTQ students, and other group and workshop offerings).
Yet accessing these resources is not always the quickest and easiest process – it can involve calling numerous providers, being persistent, and trying out different therapists or therapy techniques before finding something that works for you. To shed some light on what this process can look like, below we detail one personal experience of navigating mental health treatment as a Stanford graduate student. We emphasize that this is one person’s experience, and there have been some updates to Stanford’s mental health resources (i.e., there are now no set limits on the number of brief consults at CAPS). Below we list some take-aways that we glean from this experience, and discussions with others about their personal experiences navigating therapy.
We emphasize that although accessing therapy can sometimes be challenging, we have experienced and observed enormous benefits of therapy. These have included an increased ability to cope with difficult situations, better awareness and acceptance of difficult emotions, and improved interpersonal interactions.
One personal experience navigating Stanford mental health resources:
Take-aways:
For graduate and undergraduate students, calling CAPS (Stanford’s ‘Counseling and Psychological Services’), is one way to get referrals for long-term therapists. There are also online search tools including PsychologyToday, Zencare, and the American Psychological Association in which you can filter by location, insurance, etc. Postdocs at Stanford have some different options for accessing therapists including Teledoc and Meru Health.
Not all therapists have availability for new patients, so it may take a bit of calling and emailing around to get an initial appointment. This can be hard because you may have the least capacity to deal with this process at the times when you need help the most urgently. There are options for easily accessing short-term or immediate help, including the CAPS Crisis Assistance line or national hotlines such as SAMHSA.
When seeking a therapist, you have agency to specify aspects of their identity (e.g., female, Spanish-speaking), or experience (e.g, working with veterans, LGBTQ issues, etc.) if that is important to you
Even with making these specifications, not all therapists will be a great fit for you. Remember that you do not need to stick it out in this situation - you have complete control to leave!
There are different types of therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychodynamic therapy, etc.). You don’t need to know which type you want before starting. But it can be helpful to know you have options here, and if one type doesn’t work for you, you can always try another
Therapists do not typically prescribe medication, which is another component of mental health treatment that can be considered. This would involve getting connected with a psychiatrist (which a therapist can often facilitate) to discuss whether or not medication may be appropriate for you and the options.
Seeing an off-campus therapist may involve a co-pay (typically ~$25 / session). You may be able to get this cost reimbursed by applying for funding through Stanford programs such as the Graduate Student Aid Fund, Emergency Grant-in-Aid, or (for students in the Biosciences) the Biosciences Hardship Program (Note, these programs are specific to graduate students).