{"id":17191,"date":"2018-03-15T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T08:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=17191"},"modified":"2018-03-16T11:40:44","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T11:40:44","slug":"depression-and-anxiety-are-common-among-graduate-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2018\/03\/15\/depression-and-anxiety-are-common-among-graduate-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Depression and anxiety are common among graduate students"},"content":{"rendered":"

A study assessing the mental health of 2,279 PhD and master\u2019s students from around the world has brought new attention to a pressing issue: For many, the pursuit of an advanced degree takes an emotional toll, as reported online on 6 March in Nature Biotechnology<\/a><\/em>.<\/h4>\n

\"glasses-1611121_1920-1024x683\"<\/a>Other recent studies<\/a> have documented widespread mental distress among graduate students, but the high rates suggested by the this study are still alarming, says Teresa Evans, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the study\u2019s lead author. She notes that students suffering from anxiety or depression may have been especially motivated to take the survey, which could have skewed the results. But she believes the findings still underscore the seriousness of the problem and the need for a response. \u201cOur results, as well as the outpouring of personal stories and support for future investigations, indicate that a tipping point has been reached,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Echoing the findings of the 2017 Nature<\/em> Graduate Survey<\/a>, Evans and colleagues found that advisers and principal investigators (PIs) had a large impact on the success and well-being of graduate students. About half of the students who were anxious or depressed disagreed with the statements that their PI or adviser \u201cprovides mentorship\u201d or \u201cprovides ample support.\u201d Only about one-third agreed with those statements.<\/p>\n

Evans says that PIs don\u2019t necessarily have to add the role of emotional counselor to their list of duties, but says that they should receive training that can help them to detect when their trainees need professional help. \u201cThey need to understand how to point junior lab members in the general direction of care,\u201d Evans says.<\/p>\n

The survey also found that more than half of depressed or anxious students disagreed with the statement \u201cI have a good work-life balance,\u201d a clear sign that the demands of their graduate programme add to their distress. Evans says that many students could benefit from basic training to help them manage their time and cope with stress. \u201cThat\u2019s low-hanging fruit, but it\u2019s essential to making a difference,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Katia Levecque, an industrial-relations specialist at Ghent University in Belgium who has studied mental-health issues among university students<\/a>, says that many outstanding questions remain. The mental-health field is still waiting for a large-scale scientific survey that could truly measure the prevalence of emotional problems in this population. \u201cWe don\u2019t yet have the evidence that there\u2019s a mental health crisis,\u201d she says. Still, she says, there\u2019s plenty of reason to believe that something needs to be done for the sake of the students and for the workplaces of the future. \u201cPeople are suffering and dropping out,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m not sure we can wait to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suggested reading<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Degree and depression<\/a><\/p>\n

Panic and a PhD<\/a><\/p>\n

Trainees need to take a hard look at job prospects<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 40% of respondents to the voluntary survey had anxiety scores in the moderate to severe range, and nearly 40% of respondents showed signs of moderate to severe depression. Both rates were more than six times greater than those found in the general public using the same standardized questionnaires.  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88283,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,65,198,188,199,20],"tags":[2481661,2481663,3789005,2481651,1101,7376803,1875285,1021981,338],"class_list":["post-17191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia-2","category-phd","category-postgraduate-2","category-relationships","category-research-2","category-us","tag-anxiety","tag-depression","tag-graduate-student","tag-mental-health","tag-mentor","tag-phd-student","tag-stress","tag-time-management","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}