PhD students face high levels of mental health problems, study shows

The prestige and potential pay that comes with having a PhD can also come with a price, it appears, according to new research showing that doctoral candidates are increasingly resorting to medication to treat mental health problems linked to the degree.

A new analysis of some 20,000 doctoral candidates in Sweden documents "high levels of mental health problems among PhD students," in research serving as a warning to young graduates considering an academic future.

Researchers from Stockholm Business School, Lund University, the University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) said their conclusions were based on prescriptions for psychiatric medication for Sweden's population of PhD students.

"Following the start of PhD studies, the use of psychiatric medication among PhD students increases substantially," they reported, noting an "upward trend" that results in "a 40% increase by the fifth year compared to pre-PhD levels," following by a "notable decrease in the utilization of psychiatric medication" once the dissertation is finished.

Psychological health issues have long affected students the world over, according to Wendy Ingram, founder of Dragonfly Mental Health, who told the journal Nature that PhD-related stress is "systemic" and has "been plaguing academia for many decades."

And while some doctorates can in time lead to a high-salaried job in academia or in business, many students are increasingly reporting financial struggles and having to do menial part-time work to make ends meet during their studies, which can take 5 to 7 years.

Such struggles are often then followed by several years or more of piecemeal career progression that sees the PhD-qualified work part-time in universities, with tenured positions seemingly a distant prospect.

The findings were published as a "preprint" by the Social Science Research Network and have not yet been reviewed by peers.