In celebration of Women's Month, Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 (SU) is shining a spotlight on extraordinary staff and students on our campus who champion women's rights and gender equality. Through their dedication and leadership, they inspire and drive positive change. Prof Soraya Seedat is a distinguished professor and head of Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's psychiatry department and a leading expert in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders with research collaborators around the world.
What inspired you to pursue a career in psychiatry, particularly in the fields of PTSD and anxiety disorders?
As a medical student, I was drawn to both psychiatry and paediatrics. After my internship, I chose to work for a year in psychiatry during my community service. That year at Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Town solidified my decision to specialise in psychiatry.
In 2001, I had the opportunity to start a research clinic focused on violence and trauma in adolescents. Working with youth from socio-economically deprived neighbourhoods, I was both fascinated and appalled by the lasting impacts of ongoing, severe violence. This propelled me into a lifelong commitment to studying traumatic stress and anxiety disorders, which are prevalent not just in South Africa, but globally. I've been at SU since 1993, I think I'm one of the longest serving staff at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. We understand a lot more than we did 20 years ago about what causes some individuals to develop lasting psychiatric problems because of traumas like rape.
Understanding why some individuals develop long-lasting psychiatric problems while others remain resilient continues to intrigue me. This research is crucial in a society where violence, whether in socio-economically deprived areas or middle-class homes, cuts across all boundaries.
What challenges have you experienced in your career?
Despite my long tenure and senior position, I still face challenges. I sometimes need to assert myself more than my male colleagues to be taken as seriously as they are. Recognition and acknowledgment for women, in comparison to men, are still lacking.
While I've seen encouraging progress in transformation in higher education, women are still not as well represented as they should be in senior professional, academic and support roles. Even without considering women's added domestic responsibilities, it is still more difficult for us to advance.
A specific hurdle that women experience in academia is that there is no accommodation in PhD regulations for female academics who become pregnant. There's an expectation if a woman falls pregnant while she's doing her PhD, she needs to interrupt her studies and then re-register. I think we need a multi-pronged approach to ensure equity for women at all levels – not just inclusion but true equitability.
You advocate for a non-siloed approach to mental healthcare. Can you explain how this approach could improve outcomes for women?
The integration of mental and physical health is crucial, regardless of gender identity. We often overlook the connection between the mind and body, especially in the public health sector, where mental health services are separate from general medical care. Medical professionals sometimes fail to communicate with each other in the different streams of health service.
This separation can lead to stigmatisation and inadequate care, particularly for women whose health needs are influenced by their biological and hormonal makeup, and unique life circumstances and socio-environmental influences.
Women are often hampered from making progress in their research careers as quickly as men do due to pregnancy and childcare responsibilities. To address these issues, we need a more flexible approach in research and clinical work and provide additional support to women to ensure that they are not excluded or left behind.
What are the things that you enjoy doing away from work?
I like reading fiction, going on walks, travelling to new destinations and eating out.
What do you consider your most significant achievement in your career so far?
Upskilling and supporting cohorts of researchers, especially women, in psychiatry and neuroscience - in the country, continent and beyond.
What advice would you give to young women aspiring to enter the field of psychiatry and mental health research?
It's a varied and thrilling discipline, rapidly evolving and ripe with innovation (for example, with rapid advances in mental health digital tools, predictive analytics and repurposed treatments). In choosing this career, make perseverance and patience your good friends as they will stand you in good stead through your career and help you soar. As women in the field, make strides not only to innovate and advance the science and practice of psychiatry, but also use your voice to advance equity and access and help other women succeed.
What are your future research plans or projects you are excited about?
I'm planning further interventional (treatment studies). I'm excited about continuing to grow the global networks that I belong to raise the profile and the breadth and depth of excellent psychiatry and neuroscience research that scientists and clinicians in SA are contributing to the global stage.
How do you celebrate Women's Day and Woman's Month? What message would you like to convey to the staff, students and broader community at SU as we celebrate Women's Month?
I usually spend Women's Day in quiet reflection and gratitude for what women, as a collective, have achieved, especially over the past century. My message to women at SU is: Every woman can shine given the right lighting. Pursue the right lighting for you by speaking up, unapologetically, for the opportunities you deserve.
PHOTO: Stefan Els
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