Professional and Career Topics

I was browsing through the ASCE Source newsletter today and saw a recap of a recent Thursday @3 discussion, I wish I was able to attend.  However, it may spark some interesting discussion here:  Destigmatizing mental health in STEM is a team effort | ASCE

I agree engineering, especially in the consulting world, can be an atmosphere where mental health is often overlooked.  Larger companies think that by holding an occasional lunch and learn on mental health is productive, but until health insurance packages include better mental health coverage and companies work with individuals to determine the root causes of mental health breakdowns (i.e., overwork, not enough engineering staff, unrealistic deadlines, etc.), real progress is not being made to address the problem.

I myself had mental health issues with burnout after 2 decades in the engineering field.  I was overworked, constantly working 7 days per week, not receiving support from within the company (other than the afore-mentioned lunch and learns).  I ended up with panic attacks, not eating, not sleeping.  I can why sleep deprivation is so harmful, it causes a quick spiral.  However, I am open about this with the people that I meet to ensure that they do not follow the same path I had to go through and to recognize when help or change is required.  While I sought therapy, I also ended up changing employment as well to a firm that is more conducive to taking care of myself.  Sometimes it takes a drastic change to put oneself first for once.

However, I find that females are much more open to obtaining assistance with mental health, BUT there still the strong stigma that men must "man up", "suffer in silence", "not show weakness".  Right now, I know several men who are at the verge of burnout and I have spoken with them and they have NOT made any steps to obtain help.  Until that happens, I see the problem within the engineering field as continuing.  However, I must give kudos to the gentleman in the article linked above for admitting he's been through it and hopefully will encourage other men to do seek assistance.

I would be curious to hear from other engineers on their experiences either with mental health themselves or assisting others, especially the men, in recognizing that they don't have to suffer in silence and that they too can take meaningful efforts to achieve work-life balance.

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Angela Hintz P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Project Engineer
Buffalo NY
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Well said, Angela. My experiences are consistent with your observations that women engineers more readily seek help. I also had several women (but no men) decline promotions, saying they didn't want the increased stress that went with the increased responsibilities. I sometimes had to move men making the wrong choice back into less stressful positions after counseling and work adjustments weren't sufficient.

The large organizations I worked in had excellent mental health policies and mostly capable counselors, with psychologists much more helpful than psychiatrists. One psychologist even helped us with rebellious teen children. Management could be helpful or not, depending too much on individual attitudes. 

Thanks for the contribution.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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