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