• Question: How does dealing with everyone else's mental problems have an effect on you?

    Asked by anon-216130 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 12 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      Some people who are in the helping profession do experience fatigue. This happens if you feel like you’re becoming numb to the suffering of others.

      If you are suffering from this, you should seek support and also evaluate how you are practising self-care. It’s difficult to help other people’s mental health issues if you are not looking after your won well-being.

    • Photo: Oliver Clabburn

      Oliver Clabburn answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      I’m quite fortunate in that I’ve always had some really supportive people around me, both in my personal and professional life. If there are times where I’m struggling with something, I am able to speak to a colleague. A good example is of my PhD work when I was interviewing people who were dying. Sometimes it was really useful for me to speak to one of my supervisors about something I had been told or experienced.

    • Photo: Caroline Brett

      Caroline Brett answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      It can be quite emotionally draining at times, particularly when you’re in a role like mine where I’m not actually able, or qualified, to help. Sometimes I end up taking on some of their anxiety myself.
      The main thing is to have a good support network both at work and at home

    • Photo: Jasmin Moon

      Jasmin Moon answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      It can be hard, especially when you are worried about someone who is having a really hard time. I try and remember to look after my own mental health because it’s difficult to help someone else if you are not in a good place yourself. I also talk to my colleagues and manager when I am struggling which helps.

    • Photo: Robert Dempsey

      Robert Dempsey answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      This is a good question – thanks bubbles. I do a lot of research into quite severe mental health difficulties like self-harm and suicidality, so there’s a chance that I could be talking to someone about some quite significant and distressing experiences. It is very important for researchers to look after their own wellbeing (as much as looking after those they work with). Some of this is doing the basic self-care stuff – eating and drinking well, taking breaks, ‘switching off’, sleeping well, getting support from colleagues and friends/family. Other things I do is consider the research ethics of my studies – because I do work using clinical samples (which could be people in hospital or those with very severe health difficulties) I often have to address these concerns about my/my colleagues’ wellbeing when we apply for research ethics approvals for our studies. We’ve just done this for a study that has been sent to an NHS ethics panel where we’re going to ask about people’s experience of bipolar disorder – so we’ve had to show how we’re going to look after our own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of our participants. Hopefully, it should have a big effect on our own health but I have personally heard some quite difficult stories about people’s experiences relating to a mental health condition when I’ve been conducting a study.

    • Photo: Nicola Johnstone

      Nicola Johnstone answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      In the job I have now, I don’t really have to deal with other peoples health problems as I don’t work with clinical patients. Rather, I work with people to find out more about the emotions and brain processes that can turn into an issue. At the same time, sometimes students or participants will tell me things (called disclosing) that I will then signpost to qualified people, so they can get support from experts. We have processes and procedures that are reviewed and approved by Ethics committees to ensure the proper steps are in place.

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