At any graduate program in any country, you will find numerous students who not only have some of the brightest minds, but also some of the greatest aspirations and career goals. These are the people who have spent years studying and working to reach the pinnacle of their respective fields. Unfortunately, these years of work can come at a great cost. As with anything that puts stress on the human body, graduate education is affecting the stability of the mental health of students across the world, not just the United States. What people do not expect however, is the severity of the issue. Even the greatest of minds are not immune to the most common of mental health issues.
An online study by the Graduate Assembly at the University of California, Berkeley collected 2279 responses from PhD candidates across 26 countries, 40% of whom were in biological/physical sciences and engineering. The results showed that 41% of the respondents showed moderate to severe anxiety, 39% showed moderate to severe depression, both of which are more than six times the prevalence found in studies of the general population. Additionally, in a different study that examined eight of the top economics programs in the United States, including programs such as Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and Yale, it was noted in the study that “the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among economics Ph.D. students is comparable to the prevalence found in incarcerated populations.” It was also noted that “the average economics Ph.D. student feels considerably lonelier and more isolated than a retired American.” Although the reasons for such may vary, such as amount of time required to complete work or amount of stress produced from the program, the results are clear: graduate programs can be a major contributor in the emergence of mental health disorders.
With such strong statistics, one would expect that there would be a vast number of efforts made by the institutions to provide aid for these types of issues. However, it was seen to be quite the opposite, with symptoms being normalized and issues being brushed under the rug. It has been seen that many factors contribute to the normalization of these mental health disorders in the graduate school environment.
The biggest factor of this normalization is the culture of the graduate school environment. With the graduate school culture being a strong one, the ideologies of a select few can easily turn into an expectation for all. Unfortunately, these ideologies include looking at suffering as essentially a badge of honor. There is a belief that if you are in a PhD program and are working properly, it should make you feel ill. Although this results in many students dropping out of graduate programs, those who remain often see the quality of their work decline due to the mounting mental health stress. This decline in quality can itself result in stress, which turns into a snowball effect.
Another factor in the normalization of such mental health disorders is that the catalyst of these disorders, in many cases the professors, believe that their extreme teaching styles are necessary in order to produce a strong PhD candidate. Because of a lack of accountability from faculty, these professors are able to maintain these teaching styles. This situation is the case seen in the suicide of John Brady, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was an electrical engineering student. Brady arrived at UW-Madison in 2010 and worked as a research assistant for engineering professor Akbar Sayeed, who unfortunately had the reputation of being toxic and abusive towards students working with him. As people looked into the death of John Brady, it was apparent that Professor Sayeed was living up to this reputation, as according to other graduate students, the professor called students “monkeys” and “chimpanzees.” One student said he compared them to “slaves” who must learn to endure pain because it would only last four or five years. This environment put continued pressure on Brady, who attempted to address Sayeed’s behavior and how it drove students away. Despite these efforts, Sayeed’s tirade continued and Brady’s responsibilities also continued to mount. Sadly, Professor Sayeed is not the only case of this sort. As happens in many cases like this, various authorities and faculty members claimed that they had no idea how bad things were in this environment. Unfortunately, it is hard to investigate whether these words are lies or not.
These two factors are just some that contribute to the toxic graduate school environment. With these factors known, what are the solutions? It starts with educating people on the realities of mental health disorders. Rather than associating mental health disorders with someone who is not fit to be in society, it needs to be understood as something that affects numerous people around us. Understanding the realities of mental health disorders also means being able to identify the symptoms, rather than just normalizing them. It is also essential for treatments to be made more accessible for those seeking it, which can be fixed by training people who are in positions to directly communicate with the students, such as faculty and administration.
The graduate school community is unique, as it is a group of people with incredible aspirations who would not think twice to put their career over health. However, we cannot use this as an excuse to not take action and have students suffering with these mental health disorders. With the proper awareness and education, the normalization of mental health disorders can be phased out from the graduate school environment.
Cover Art done by Roshni Saleem Chagan
