“New study says graduate students’ mental health is a ‘crisis’” says author Colleen Flaherty in a March 2018 Inside Higher Ed article. The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, shows that “graduate students are more than six times as likely to experience depression and anxiety as compared to the general population.” Root causes appear to be poor work-life balance and lack of “real mentorship from advisers and supervisors.”
A study co-author calls graduate students a “vulnerable population” and advocates for establishing mechanisms that support students who are struggling to succeed. Scarce funding, expectations to work unreasonably long hours, and uncertain job prospects may also affect students’ mental health. Another researcher suggests that since large numbers of PhD students are suffering and dropping out, organizations need to take positive action and stop contributing to the problems that students experience. Flaherty says, “The questions is asked - at what cost can we allow this to occur?” Or perhaps more to the point, given the long-standing nature of this problem -- at what cost can we allow this to continue?