The significant influence of doctoral students on mental health: data show significant effects
The significant influence of doctoral students on mental health: data show significant effects
A study of Swedish doctoral students has shown the enormous influence of the doctoral degree on the mental health . The survey provides robust data on the discussions about the Crisis of mental health in the Akademia . Studies and anecdotal evidence have long shown that Doctoral students experience enormous prints to publish and find financial resources and jobs in a brutally competitive environment.
The analysis examined to what extent Swedish doctoral students prescribed psychiatric drugs and were hospitalized due to psychological health problems. It turned out that the longer the doctoral students completed their studies, the more support they needed. In the fifth year of studies, the likelihood that doctoral students needed psychological medication was 40 % higher compared to the year before studying (see 'Pressure on doctoral students').
The study points out that mental health problems are "systemic and the Akademia has been plague for many decades," says Wendy Ingram, founder of Dragonfly Mental Health, a global non -profit lobby group in Bradenton, Florida. "Very few studies have examined objective dimensions for mental health," adds Ingram.
Using Swedish administrative data from 2006 to 2017, the authors pursued more than 20,000 doctoral students in front of and after their programs. This enabled the team to assess the direct influence of the doctoral studies on the mental health of the students, says Eva Ranehill, behavioral economists at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and co -author of the study. The Preprint 1 , which is not yet Peer-Reviewed, was published on the server.
psychoactive medication
The researchers compared the frequency with which doctoral students, people with master's degrees and a sample of the general population access mental health services. Before the start of the doctoral studies, students and people with a master's degree used these services to a similar extent. However, the use of psychiatric medication, such as antidepressants and sedatives, increased from year to year during the study of the doctoral students. This reached its peak in the fourth and fifth year - the average duration of a doctoral program in most countries - and then fell off again in the sixth and seventh year.
The highest risk of being prescribed psychiatric drugs during the doctorate had women and people who had already taken such medication before the start of their program.
The authors found a similar pattern than they compared doctoral students with a sample of the general population between the ages of 18 and 70. Before the start of their programs, doctoral students used mental health services less frequently than the general population, but at the end of their studies the rates were the same.
The study raises the question of whether academic surroundings are more intense than other sectors. Surveys 2 , 3 indicate that the fear and depression rates are higher than in the general population, but Ranehill says that it is too early to know whether these conditions occur more frequently than in people in similarly demanding. "We will examine the different psychological health results in various professional fields in future analyzes of the Swedish data set," she explains.
pressure increases
The study showed that the use of medication was different depending on the academic field. Doctoral students of the natural sciences recorded an increase of 100 % in the fifth year compared to the values in front of the doctorate, while the humanities and social sciences recorded an increase of 40 % or 50 %. Medical students, on the other hand, showed no increase in the prescriptions.
Different standards in the disciplines could explain this, says Ranehill: "In some areas, they are heavily dependent on their supervisor. In others, they are isolated. Many experienced people help a lot, but some do the opposite."
rituja bisen, a doctoral student in the fifth year of neurosciences at the University of Würzburg in Germany, reports that the pressure to acquire funding and create publications influences people. "You have to generate data as soon as possible, and the feeling of competition for means and jobs can be very strong, even early in the doctorate."
bisen, which also struggled with the additional - and frequent - stress of moving to another country for her doctoral degree, says that she was lucky to receive strong support from her main supervisor and her department. But some of her friends in other departments had difficulties. "It doesn't matter how good a laboratory is; if it comes from a toxic work culture, it is not desirable in the long run."
Dragonfly, founded by committed academics in 2019, tests programs to promote excellent mental health in 22 countries for more than 50,000 academics in different career levels. The programs include training with evidence -based approaches to improve mental health, and the group will publish the results in 2026.
bisen says that the Finding support networks inside and outside the laboratory helped her to protect her mental health. "I started bouldering with a group of biologists. We speak about stress and let off steam. It is like a self -help group."
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Bergvall, S., Fernström, C., Ranehill, E. & Sandberg, A. Preprint at Ssnn https://ssrn.com/abstract=4920527 (2024).
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Evans, T. M., Bira, L., Gastelum, J. B., Weiss, L. T. & Vanderford, N. L. nature Biotechnol. 36, 282–284 (2018).
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Keloharju, M., Knüpfer S., Müller, D. & Tåg, J. Res. Policy 53, 105078 (2024).