Educating and training is sometimes treated as an absolute good, but when is enough enough?
A recently published study from Sweden’s renowned Lund University has documented the hidden cost of advanced degrees. The researchers trawled the nation’s medical-administrative records to match psychiatric medication prescription with PhD studies.
The trajectory for PhD candidates (students undertaking PhD programs) in Sweden is that they must have first completed a master’s degree. They then commence PhD research and stay in their PhD programs for an average of five years.
Before graduating from master’s programs, students who are set to finish their studies and students who are to continue into PhD programs use psychiatric medications at an equal rate. Moreover, on this measure, both cohorts have less mental health issues than the general population.
After commencing PhD studies, however, the trend line changes. By the end of the fifth year of a PhD program, the records show a 40% increase in psychiatric medication prescription among PhD candidates as against the master’s graduation baseline.
One could query whether the study is biased by the academic performance-enhancing nature of psychiatric medications. In the US, over one-third of college students use amphetamine-based ADHD drugs to get through their courses, though the population-wide prevalence of ADHD is estimated at 4-5%.
Yet this doesn’t capture the story, because the trend line of mental health deterioration after commencing a PhD program is matched by a proportionate increase in severe mental health issues. Hospitalisation for mental health problems increases at the same rate as overall psychiatric medication use relative to the master’s graduation baseline.
In other words, as the Lund University researchers put it, “the observed increase in mental health care uptake at the start of PhD studies reflects a negative impact on underlying mental health rather than primarily a shift in health care utilization.”
So if the prospect of years of strained finances doesn’t raise question marks for prospective PhD researchers, the mental health impacts certainly should.
Thumbnail image courtesy of @sharonmccutcheon via Unsplash.
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