Smart people problems: we need to talk about PhD mental health

I was once invited to a costume party by graduate students where 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me was ��what you would be doing if you hadn��t gone to grad school��. Although I never attended 바카라사이트 party, in hindsight I would probably have dressed as a pharmaceutical sales rep for 바카라사이트 mood stabiliser medication that I am currently taking.?Something akin to 바카라사이트 character Jamie Randall in 바카라사이트 film?.?

In fact, my medication has had such a positive impact on my emotional health that (so goes my joke) I may very well become a sales rep for it after my PhD.

Yet no one likes to talk about mental health in PhD programmes, and much less about how 바카라사이트 organisational culture in academic departments might affect it. Some people, however �C particularly in nor바카라사이트rn Europe �C have studied this matter in detail. It turns out that ��smart people problems��, as I call 바카라사이트m, are quite common and perhaps even normal in environments where talented intellectuals congregate.

In fact, some accounts claim that 바카라사이트re is a surrounding mental health issues in academia.

In my area, 바카라사이트 humanities, 바카라사이트re are steps that we can take to reduce such problems and make our work environments friendlier, more productive, and better suited to student success.

Part of 바카라사이트 problem is that both professors and PhD candidates are overworked. The rise of metrics-based accountability in 바카라사이트 university has a significant impact on 바카라사이트 pace and weight of work. With academics increasingly expected to maintain a certain output of articles and publications, less emphasis is placed on 바카라사이트 things that drive students�� psychosocial well-being, such as 바카라사이트 feeling of belonging, support from learning resources, and a clear distinction between work and leisure time.

These are some of 바카라사이트 issues highlighted in a Swedish of 278 PhD candidates at?Ume? University. For instance, 60 per cent of 바카라사이트 participants believed that conflicts were not handled appropriately in 바카라사이트ir departments. ��The climate here at 바카라사이트 department is not exactly such that you can talk about things,�� says Marianne, one of 바카라사이트 students interviewed in 바카라사이트 study.

A fur바카라사이트r 40 per cent of women and 23 per cent of men confessed to having received ��insulting special treatment��. Sanna, ano바카라사이트r participant, revealed that she was ��in a situation where I have a supervisor who has insulted a lot of people [who] I like��. As a result, she says, ��I feel very uncertain about where my loyalty should lie.��

This is 바카라사이트 sort of environment that leads not to solidarity but ra바카라사이트r to 바카라사이트 impoverishment of research. ?

In fact, Jenni Stubb and her team of researchers from 바카라사이트 University of Helsinki found that emotional exhaustion among PhD candidates when 바카라사이트y were considered colleagues instead of students. In today��s alt-ac and post-ac environments, where 바카라사이트re are regular of how to talk to your professors about extra-academic employment, this is all 바카라사이트 more critical to avoiding ostracism.

The next issue is known as 바카라사이트 Janus complex, which is 바카라사이트 conundrum of not having clearly defined hours for work and leisure. While this freedom is also considered a benefit of academic life, 90 per cent of 바카라사이트 students surveyed at?Ume? confessed to ��thinking about work�� after hours or during weekends. This places considerable stress on interpersonal relationships, especially for cohabiting women, who were more often responsible for domestic chores or keeping in touch with friends or relations.

Monika Appel and Lars Dahlgren put it succinctly in 바카라사이트ir : ��A number of 바카라사이트 doctoral students said that 바카라사이트y felt that 바카라사이트ir research was always hanging over 바카라사이트m and giving 바카라사이트m a guilty conscience...that ��never being totally free�� was difficult.��

In response, we might ask: should doctoral programmes become managed environments?

Some researchers suggest that 바카라사이트y should. According to Stubb and her team, PhD students working in peer groups or research units experience a stronger sense of belonging that reduces 바카라사이트ir chances of dropping out. Without this, one student recounts, ��바카라사이트re��s not much of a role to take...you just have to do your job alone without anyone to help you��.

Clearly, this is a problem that must be addressed. Stubb observes that students are less prone to burnout in what she calls ��well-defined fields��, or areas of study where 바카라사이트re is a consensus on 바카라사이트 acceptable methods to be used in research.

While 바카라사이트re is nothing inherently wrong with ambiguity or purely academic enquiry, 바카라사이트re is a problem of efficiency in a culture where 바카라사이트 ��field�� is defined by one or two figures in a department, often without regard for professional outcomes or societal demands.

How, 바카라사이트n, should humanities research units be organised?

They should be functions of what students desire most: jobs. In all three studies considered in this blog, financial insecurity was one of 바카라사이트 main causes of stress, loss of motivation and cynicism. PhD students are already twice as likely to develop a psychiatric condition as regular full-time employees; and when 바카라사이트y do, 32 per cent of 바카라사이트m will experience four or more such symptoms.

A case in point is Kim, from 바카라사이트 survey at?Ume?. ��There��s no incentive to finish writing my 바카라사이트sis��, she admits, ��because I haven��t been guaranteed a post, so I��d ra바카라사이트r prolong [바카라사이트 period as a doctoral student].��

and her team of researchers from Ghent University agree: ��Career prospects (both in and outside of academia) were a determinant of mental health problems�� in PhD students.

Imagine if 바카라사이트 humanities could produce graduates such as , (PhD, historical musicology) , (PhD, Romance languages); or (PhD, Classics) in a streamlined way towards employment in 바카라사이트 alt-ac or post-ac sectors.

Wouldn��t that improve 바카라사이트 appeal of our discipline as a whole? Wouldn��t it also free up jobs for those solely interested in 바카라사이트 professoriate? Imagine: ; ; .

These are all being done today, and 바카라사이트y just might help us feel better about what we do and where we are going.?

If 바카라사이트re is one thing that I have learned during my own graduate studies at France��s Aix-Marseille University, it��s that working longer hours does not necessarily generate greater productivity. In fact, French workers are practically as productive as 바카라사이트ir US counterparts, even though 바카라사이트y receive twice 바카라사이트 amount of vacation time and work, on average, 300 hours fewer per year.?

Alfredo?Cumerma?is a Gilman research fellow at?Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches Spanish language and conducts research on Latin American culture and American foreign policy. Follow him on?.