The Suffering PhD: Should We Care?

*Note: Upon further reflection, I realized that I failed to make a distinction in this post. There is a difference between mental illness during doctoral training and emotional issues as a result of doctoral training. I'm referring to the latter in this post, and my thinking remains under construction.*

A recent article in The Guardian called completing a PhD "one of the toughest tests anyone can face in academic life." It noted that several countries are more closely monitoring the experience of PhD students, and raised important issues that merit consideration, including widespread feelings of isolation, perfectionism, stress, and imposter syndrome (or fear of being a fraud).

It is important to pay attention to these issues and talk about them openly. Too often, PhD students compete against one another and avoid (or feel uncomfortable) sharing their personal struggles with anyone. As a graduating PhD student, I appreciate the concern for how my peers and I are faring. Nevertheless, I can't help but ask whether the plight of PhD students really matters. Should we care that some PhD students are suffering? For me, the answer is: it depends.

On a personal level, we should care anytime someone is dealing with emotional distress. Even if depression comes about due to choices freely made, and even if feelings of anxiety and inadequacy have become normalized in the doctoral process, we should not simply accept suffering as natural and unquestioned. Cynics of the academic enterprise will say, "If you feel so lousy, why don't you just quit?" The reality to which many PhD students may attest is that we think about it regularly, but find the decision to be much more complicated. We may have already invested heavily in this path, in time, money, and energy. It is also true for some PhD students that they have trained to be academic researchers, and while I would certainly argue that these skills are broadly transferable, the prospect of finding a job outside of academe can be daunting. So, one answer to my question is, yes, on a personal level we should care if PhDs are suffering.

We should also care on the level of policy-making. PhD students and graduates are vitally important to the global research enterprise. Many labs and research projects are possible only because of PhD students who work hard at extremely demanding intellectual problems for reasonable pay. The work of these teams contributes in substantial ways to economic growth and job creation. Thus, every country and every institution should strive to create an environment where talented people see pursuing doctoral work as rewarding. We should send the message that PhD students will be adequately supported and that failure is not only tolerated, but viewed as essential to the discovery process. Simply put, we want smart people developing their skill set, and we want some of them to remain in academe to train the next generation. Otherwise, we risk alienating our brightest minds. It is smart public policy to pay attention to the experience of PhD students and to cultivate their success.

At the same time, there a few compelling reasons to not pay heed to the suffering PhD. One of these reasons is that, as far as educational issues go, the emotional problems of PhD students probably falls to the bottom of the list. And for good reason. We should recognize that a minuscule percentage of the global population receives a terminal degree. Our attention is more appropriately directed to ensuring that each individual has access to basic education as a human right. A bigger educational issue than PhD anxiety or even PhDs dropping out is persistent inequities by class, gender, and race. It's not that PhD inner turmoil is insignificant. Rather, it is just not as important as other educational issues that I believe warrant greater resources and media spotlight.

And one last point on this: we may elect not to care about PhD emotional health because, in truth, no one needs a doctorate to live a healthy, fulfilling life. In fact, some would argue that if completing a doctorate simply leads to a low-paying adjunct job, there's reason to leave before getting in too deep. While I acknowledge how difficult and potentially devastating the decision to end one's studies could be, there are still many opportunities for a former PhD student to find employment and thrive. In other words, the ramifications of PhD student suffering are not nearly as dire as they are at lower levels of education, where, depending on location, the ability to endure can result in substantial socioeconomic improvements. If we don't care about PhD student suffering, it's possible the world will be perfectly fine.

If all goes well, I will be officially finished with my PhD on Friday. There were many moments when I struggled with perfectionism, isolation, and anxiety. I flirted with quiting many times. I'm happy there were people in my life who cared enough to listen and encouraged me to push through. I'm glad also that my institution prioritized graduate student mental health and provided many reminders of support groups and counseling. However, I don't think my moments of panic and fear deserve more attention than reaching gender parity in basic education. I also know that, if I chose to walk away from it all, I was still far more privileged than many for even having the opportunity to try. Life would be fine if I wasn't Dr. McClure. Should we care about suffering PhDs? It depends.