Volume 64, Issue 19 e202424871
Viewpoint Article

Why Mental Health Literacy Can Improve STEM

Christian W. Pester

Corresponding Author

Christian W. Pester

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 USA

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
Klaus Lieb

Klaus Lieb

Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, D-55122 Mainz, Germany

Search for more papers by this author
Sarah K. Schäfer

Corresponding Author

Sarah K. Schäfer

Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, D-55122 Mainz, Germany

Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Diagnostics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 01 April 2025

Graphical Abstract

Despite its widely appreciated significance, most research on mental health is published in journals focusing on education, social science, psychology, or psychiatry. This contribution intends to enhance discussion between those disciplines and the STEM field by pointing toward relevant studies, advocating for increased knowledge on mental health, and elaborating on what benefits improved mental health literacy could have for both the individual and the academic system in its entirety.

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of articles have outlined the mental health crisis in academia. Despite its widely appreciated significance, most of the related research is published in journals focusing on education, social science, psychology, or psychiatry. Despite stakeholders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) being disproportionately affected, they are often left in the dark about important findings unless they seek out relevant information themselves. This contribution attempts to spark interdisciplinary discussion between psychology, psychiatry, and STEM by highlighting relevant research, advocating for increased knowledge on mental health, and elaborating on what benefits improved mental health literacy could have for both the individual and the academic system in its entirety.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.