Mental Health During Your PhD

An opinion piece based on some research I did in my lunch hours and my entirely unqualified experience*

47% – A study by the University of California, Berkeley, found nearly half of postgraduate students met criteria to classify them as depressed.¹

What you may be experiencing/feeling (you are not alone, I promise)

Imposter Syndrome

7 in 10 people experience Imposter Syndrome throughout their career²

Someone is going to figure out you don’t belong here soon. You look good on paper but passing that exam was a fluke. I don’t have what it takes to [do these experiments, write a thesis, succeed in academia]. These are all classic signe of imposter syndrome.  Tip: Reframe your thinking. Aim for progress not perfection.

No More Tick Boxes

You got pretty good at essay and lab reports – they were all short term tasks. You also got good at figuring out what questions might be asked in exams. Now you have an open ended project, with the end no where in sight.  You no longer have grades to tell you if you are doing a good job. Transitioning from this undergraduate mentality can be particularly tough.  Tip: break down your research into small, manageable goals.

First Time Failing

You’ve alwayus been the best student at school, and you did pretty well at university too.  Now your science isn’t working and everyone around you seems to be getting on just fine.  These feelings can come about as at undergraduate level, experiments (believe it or not) are designed to work. Tip: remember, you are at the forefront of scientific research – if it was easy it would already have been done!

Isolation / Guilt

Writing your thesis can be a particularly lonely, isolating task. This can also be coupled with feelings of guilt when going about your daily life as “you should be writing”. Tips to manage this include attending research group meetings/departmental seminars whilst writing.  This can also be coupled with ‘writer’s block’. Tip: when writing, start by making figures – it is far easier to write about what a figure means.

Competitive Landscape

Unfortunately, academia often fosters competition over collaboration, when it should be the other way around. This is made worse by the fact that often the only way to gauge how well you are doing is to compare yourself against others.  Tip: no two PhD projects are the same. so avoid comparing them.

The Work / Life Struggle

55% of PhD students re concerned about work-life balance³

There is an inherent culture of acceptance in academia of long work hours. In fact, 40% of academics report working more than 50 hours a week.⁴ This is a fault with the system.  Presenteeism is a common trait observedin academia, where people work long hours due to anxiety/strees, but are not being efficient in these long hours.  Tip: aim to be efficient inside normal working hours then focus on “you” time.