鶹ýɫƬ

Wellness

Grad students face
mental wellness challenges

ASBMB Today Staff
Jan. 1, 2019

Recent studies have drawn attention to the mental health challenges of graduate students. Hironao Okahana wrote about it in an April article on the Council of Graduate Schools website. Okohana, the CGS associate vice president for research and policy analysis, noted that Ph.D. students face many more mental health challenges than the general population. .

39% OF GRADUATE STUDENTS FELL INTO MODERATE TO SEVERE DEPRESSION HALF OF PH.D. STUDENTS HAVE EXPERIENCED PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS
reports that 39 percent of participants, mostly doctoral candidates, had moderate to severe depression, as compared with the 20 percent of American adults who experience mental illness in any given year. (Among this study’s authors are Nathan Vanderford and Teresa Evans, who write about leadership in this issue.)
The problem is not new. Studies (2013) and (2006) reported that half of all Ph.D. students have experienced psychological distress and one-third are at risk of a common psychiatric disorder.
63% OF GRADUATE DEANS AGREED STUDENTS STRUGGLE MORE THAN 5 YEARS AGO “Notably, nearly half of responding graduate deans indicated that their institutions are doing a poor or very poor job of informing and training graduate faculty members, faculty advisers, PIs, and dissertation/thesis chairs.” — Hironao Okahana
Graduate deans are mindful of the mental health challenges faced by master’s and doctoral students, Okahana writes. In the 2018 CGS Pressing Issues Survey, 63 percent of these deans agreed or strongly agreed that current grad students struggle to maintain mental wellness more than grad students did five years ago.
 

Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?

Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition weekly.

Learn more
ASBMB Today Staff

This article was written by a member or members of the ASBMB Today staff.

Featured jobs

from the

Get the latest from ASBMB Today

Enter your email address, and we’ll send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.

Latest in Careers

Careers highlights or most popular articles

Upcoming opportunities
Announcement

Upcoming opportunities

Nov. 28, 2024

Friendly reminder: Book a recruiter table at ASBMB's career and education fair by Nov. 30 to secure early-bird pricing! Just added: Applications are being accepted for a post-bac at Dartmouth Cancer Center.

Upcoming opportunities
Announcement

Upcoming opportunities

Nov. 21, 2024

Just added: Register for ASBMB's virtual session on thriving in challenging academic or work environments.

Who decides when a grad student graduates?
Training

Who decides when a grad student graduates?

Nov. 15, 2024

Ph.D. programs often don’t have a set timeline. Students continue with their research until their thesis is done, which is where variability comes into play.

Upcoming opportunities
Announcement

Upcoming opportunities

Nov. 14, 2024

Submit an abstract for ASBMB's meeting on ferroptosis!

Join the pioneers of ferroptosis at cell death conference
In-person Conference

Join the pioneers of ferroptosis at cell death conference

Nov. 13, 2024

Meet Brent Stockwell, Xuejun Jiang and Jin Ye — the co-chairs of the ASBMB’s 2025 meeting on metabolic cross talk and biochemical homeostasis research.

A brief history of the performance review
Jobs

A brief history of the performance review

Nov. 8, 2024

Performance reviews are a widely accepted practice across all industries — including pharma and biotech. Where did the practice come from, and why do companies continue to require them?