Does Academic Culture Support Addiction? |
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Addiction in the professoriate has received increasing attention in the last few years.
Academia’s corporate culture can fuel alcohol and drug use at the same time it demands secrecy.
Young scholars shouldn’t be burdened with fixing a culture they didn’t create.
Lately I’ve noticed a growing number of discussions about addiction in academia. In just the last year, excessive drinking, drug use, and stigma in the professoriate have been featured in scientific journals, influential career podcasts, professional society newsletters, and trade periodicals. Several of these pieces include candid self-disclosures from faculty and research scientists who are affected by addiction.
On the one hand, this isn’t surprising given the recent sea change in acknowledging lived experience in promoting mental health. On the other hand, it is surprising because stigma toward addiction is deeply entrenched in academia, something I’ve experienced firsthand and something I write about in my new memoir.
Most recently, I read Scott Carlson’s article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Higher Ed’s Hidden Substance-Abuse Problem); he documents........