JORGE CHAM
When graduate student Xiujuan Zhang had her baby, Tate, on 7 August 2005, she knew that she needed to adjust the balance between time spent in and out of the lab. Three weeks later, both her research at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and her life were turned upside-down by Hurricane Katrina.
Zhang and her husband, both students from China, left the city with their newborn son, stayed with friends in Baton Rouge for a month, and eventually relocated to Houston, Texas, where she continued her research. In those trying times, Zhang kept her biomolecular-engineering PhD project alive by relying on her husband and her adviser, who were both supportive, and learning to compartmentalize her work and personal life. Her coping mechanisms kept her moving towards her research goals, even if at a much slower pace.
Disruptions to your personal life can take you away from the bench for significant chunks of time or cause ongoing distractions. Some issues simply require an adjusted work schedule. Others can be life-changing and, as a result, goal-changing. There are no one-size-fits-all strategies for dealing with rough patches that affect life both in and out of the lab. But researchers facing personal storms can draw on a mix of coping mechanisms, support networks and professional help.
Warning signs
Darrell Smith says it is important to seek help as early as possible.
The first step, say psychologists, is to recognize when a problem is overwhelming you. Warning signs of stress include physical symptoms such as stomach aches, headaches and insomnia, as well as emotional symptoms such as depressed moods, excessive worry and irritability, says Jeanne Manese, a psychologist in the counselling services of the University of California, San Diego.
"Often students at large research universities don't want to let go of their optimal functioning" to deal with a problem, Manese notes. But isolating yourself and denying a problem are the worst things you can do, therapists say. Instead, lab workers should talk to someone caring yet objective.
"Early detection is always the best principle," says Darrell Smith, a psychologist in the biomedical trainee wellness programme at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The sooner you seek help with a problem and get support systems going, the better the outcome is likely to be, he says.
The Vanderbilt programme rests on the principle that a counsellor who understands the research environment as Smith does will be better able to help scientists cope with crises. The programme encourages researchers to get help quickly, assessing the problem, and forming a plan that addresses both personal problems and research goals. If researchers need long-term professional counselling, Smith refers scientists to an outside specialist.
Riding out storms
Responses by various members of the Tulane group to the stressful situation highlight how greatly coping strategies vary among individuals. Zhang continued her research under tough circumstances because her husband was free to handle domestic affairs. Her adviser, W T. Godbey, juggled both home and research duties, temporarily relocating to Rice University for research and making several trips between Houston and New Orleans. Colleague Shelly Corcoran devoted the full autumn semester to helping her family and her husband's family clean up and rebuild their hurricane-damaged homes; dealing with research too "would have been beyond overwhelming", she says.
After the group reunited in January, Godbey relaxed the reins a bit, giving lab workers time to cope in their own ways. He notes that some more heavy-handed colleagues had students who fled science altogether. Many scientists say that interspersing work with personal problem-solving helped them keep a better attitude, even if it meant slowing their productivity.
Now an instructor at a research university in the US northeast, Anne* went through a divorce and a diagnosis of a chronic neurological illness during graduate school. She kept her research and her personal struggles going in tandem "to keep some research momentum going, rather than focusing on the negativity surrounding me", she says.
Likewise, Leila, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, flew back and forth between taking care of her mother on the West Coast and doing her postdoctoral research in Boston. Because she had the support of her adviser, labmates and husband, Leila says she was able to "try to move towards my goal at the same time as taking care of my mum — I could work at my own, slower pace".
Leila also leaned on her husband for emotional support, talking to him every day while she was away. When she returned to Boston, she found a counsellor in a cancer-support group. Talking to an impartial counsellor helped her dispel guilt, fear and anxiety.
Seeking help outside the lab first can give perspective about how to approach a supervisor. Marlena sought outside advice before telling her two advisers about a medical condition that would require three operations and prolonged recovery times. She got two great pieces of advice: be very clear about what you need from your adviser, and make a list of what research can proceed and what will have to wait.
Spilling the beans
Jim Kendall says you shouldn't feel you have to tell everything to those around you.
Making that list of research concerns "gave me something else to worry about, but it also gave my advisers confidence that I was going to come back to the project", says Marlena. She gathered facts about her condition, determined how much time off she would need, then revised her research plans, with her advisers' assistance.
"We tried to think of ways I could still be producing, but from the comfort of my couch," she says. Marlena determined that a technician's input and an undergraduate fieldwork assistant could keep her work on track. And while recovering at home, she could write the thesis introduction, review literature and work on a database project.
Marlena's advisers kept her on a fellowship during her leave, easing her financial burden. When asking an adviser for time off for family, medical or disability leave, it helps to know your rights as dictated by campus, department or funding-agency policies. If you have a rocky relationship with an adviser or anticipate that she will object to time off, gather information and allies first and go into the meeting prepared.
Minnie took two periods of leave during graduate school and a postdoctoral fellowship to help her grandmother, who raised her, to recover from surgery. In both cases, she explained why the leave mattered to her and that she would make up the time when she returned by working nights and weekends. Choose your battles wisely, Minnie says, with an adviser who can affect your entire career.
At the same time, it is important to remember that your adviser is not a therapist. "Don't panic and feel you have to spill your guts about everything," says Jim Kendall, manager of Vanderbilt's employee assistance programme. "Sometimes less is better in the workplace environment," he says, in case your lab head fears you won't be able to function.
However, keeping problems entirely secret from your lab is usually not possible or advisable, says Smith. To ease the strain, Anne decided to tell her adviser about her divorce: "He needed to know why I was going to be distracted for the foreseeable future. To have a secret is just an added burden."
Recovery time
Keeping lines of communication open during leave can maintain momentum. Godbey recommends also "keeping your hands wet" in the science. "To not work during a really trying time means you might make decisions differently," he says. Godbey wishes he and Corcoran had kept in better touch during late 2005, to keep her connected to the temporary lab in Houston. After the hurricane, Corcoran decided to drop her doctorate in favour of a master's.
W T. Godbey, centre (with Shelly Corcoran and Xiujuan Zhang), tells people to try not to give up their research during a stressful time.
After her second operation, Marlena had co-workers bring her into the lab for a few hours now and then, so that she could talk about science and attend seminars. "It helped me feel connected and made my advisers realize that I wasn't just going to run away," she says. Even when she could only handle television, she chose scientific documentaries on the Discovery Channel.
All these scientists say that keeping a meticulous lab notebook is critical for picking up where you left off. If you know you will be taking a break, note where you leave reagents, freeze down critical biological samples, and write up instructions for other lab members.
Keep your perspective about a temporary situation and don't let it derail your long-term goals, crisis survivors say. "It would be a shame to throw away the schooling," says Anne. "People don't throw away other jobs for personal reasons." Don't beat yourself up or apologize for an unavoidable situation, either, but rely on other people for emotional and research support.
"You should not be afraid or ashamed to reach out," says Leila, who was touched by her colleagues' assistance during her mother's illness. "This is not like an experiment you should do independently — you need help and you should let people help you."