Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain stuff,
Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger here. We all get sick of school, right.
Speaker 1: It's a common complaint for students at large, but when
Speaker 1: you hear a doctoral students say it, listen up. Mental
Speaker 1: health problems are more prevalent in PhD students than in
Speaker 1: the highly educated population in general, including highly educated employees
Speaker 1: and students, according to recent research published in the journal
Speaker 1: Research Policy. The study highlights concerns about the influence that
Speaker 1: academic working conditions have on mental health, particularly among PhD
Speaker 1: students in a range of disciplines. The researchers surveyed three thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred and fifty nine PhD students in Flanders, Belgium
Speaker 1: using a General Health Questionnaire. This is a twelve question
Speaker 1: mental health screening tool that assesses a person's well being
Speaker 1: and potentially psychological distress in light of mental health disorders. Now,
Speaker 1: PhD programs in Europe they're similar to those in the
Speaker 1: US in many ways, but there are some differences, including
Speaker 1: students having generally lower fees, shorter program terms, and a
Speaker 1: formal employment contract with their universities. In Europe, the g
Speaker 1: h Q questions focused on symptoms of depression and social dysfunction,
Speaker 1: from constant strain and unhappiness to lack of concentration and
Speaker 1: losing self confidence. Using the version of the g h
Speaker 1: Q that requires the presence of four symptoms to consider
Speaker 1: a person ill, the researchers found that thirty two percent
Speaker 1: of the PhD students assessed were at risk of having
Speaker 1: or developing a common psychiatric disorder, namely depression. Some of
Speaker 1: the more common feelings students reported were sleeping problems due
Speaker 1: to worries and the inability to get over difficulties and
Speaker 1: enjoy everyday activities. Thirty two percent is a notable amount
Speaker 1: considering data from the World Health Organization indicates that depression
Speaker 1: is the leading cause of ill health and disability in
Speaker 1: the world. And when the researchers compared the risk of
Speaker 1: psychiatric disorders and PhD students to that of the highly
Speaker 1: educated general population, highly educated employees, and high education students,
Speaker 1: they discovered that it was significantly higher for PhD students
Speaker 1: two point four three, two point eight four, and one
Speaker 1: point eight five times, respectively. It's easy to think that
Speaker 1: the heavy academic workload causes all the pressure, but the
Speaker 1: researchers found that work environment and organizational policies also contribute
Speaker 1: to psychiatric issues work family balanced difficulties, high job demands,
Speaker 1: low job control, laser fair or passive leadership style and supervisors,
Speaker 1: and even a team culture of closed decision making, where
Speaker 1: all factors linked to potential mental health problems. On the
Speaker 1: other hand, mental health was better in PhD students who
Speaker 1: had advisers with an inspirational leadership style, desired an academic career,
Speaker 1: and valued their degree outside of academia. The studies authors
Speaker 1: aren't saying that working in academia or pursuing a doctoral
Speaker 1: degree is definitively bad for your health, but their findings
Speaker 1: do indicate that the stressors of being a PhD student
Speaker 1: are more than a pain in the neck. If PhD
Speaker 1: students work conditions in career outlook are inadequate, their mental
Speaker 1: health may not make the grade. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Shelley Danzy, produced by Tristan McNeil, and For more
Speaker 1: on this and other topics, please visit us at how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.