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Poor mental health is an issue for many of our readers. That fact is underscored by the response to a tweet sent by @NatureNews earlier this week, which highlighted that rates of depression and anxiety reported by postgraduate students are six times higher than in the general population (T. M. Evans et al. Nature Biotechnol. 36, 282–284; 2018), and asked what should be done to help. The figures are a shock, but it was the reaction that blew us away: more than 1,200 retweets and around 170 replies.
“This is not one dimensional problem. Financial burden, hostile academia, red tape, tough job market, no proper career guidance. Take your pick,” read one. “Maybe being told day in, day out that the work you spend 10+ hrs a day, 6–7 days a week on isn’t good enough,” said another.
The feedback emphasizes something that Nature has highlighted often in recent years: there is a problem among young scientists. Too many have mental-health difficulties, and too many say that the demands of the role are partly to blame. Neither issue gets the attention it deserves. “I’d love to see some of the comments under this thread published,” wrote one responder. “There needs to be real conversation about this, not just observation.”
We agree — which is why we are publishing some of the responses. (You can read the full thread here.)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Monday April 02 2018, @01:19PM (2 children)
I don't think you can just compare postgrad students to gang members or the working poor (which includes some postgrad students) and just conclude that "they don't have it hard" and should have less stress. People of all stripes can be stressed, unhappy, depressed, or suicidal. Someone making 100x as much money can be just as depressed, even if they are not one car breakdown or health scare away from grabbing a payday loan.
The summary mentions "10+ hrs a day, 6–7 days a week". That's probably a major factor. Compare it to working two jobs. And if you don't put in those long hours, maybe you will be kicked to the curb. So these people are stuck in a high stress situation.
No simple answer? Definitely. Although there probably are some low-hanging answers that could be addressed if the depression and anxiety rates are so far above the norm. Inb4 UBI.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Monday April 02 2018, @01:54PM (1 child)
Higher ed is a pyramid scam, the victim almost certainly will be kicked out unless they're extremely lucky or born into the correct demographic (not white, not male, etc) or work incredibly hard. The failure rate approaches professional sports.
Its more a PTSD thing, like military survivors of a difficult siege defense, technically standing on a besieged castle wall is less physically challenging than being a manual labor farmer, but the mental challenge of "almost all of us are going to end really soon and unpredictably and painfully" is kinda rough at the time and even after the lucky few make it.
Also 10+ hours a day sounds impressive although I put in more than a decade at 13+ hours (not in academia of course) that was helped by a couple things; zero financial pressure because I was extremely well paid, happiness at seeing my FI number approach, and eventually having enough in the bank never have to worry about anything. Not all problems can be solved by money, but a large fraction certainly can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @02:06AM
> and eventually having enough in the bank never have to worry about anything.
While this probably varies by region (different cost of living), how much does it take to meet this criteria?
I'm in the Great Lakes area (away from high coastal real estate prices) and when I passed about $1.5M (total assets including paid-up house) my level of worry started to decrease. At age 62, I'm not counting on Social Security to add much to my retirement income, not once the rest of my boomer generation are also on SSI.