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UC3M-Doctorate and Mental Health

Salud Mental

Introduction

UC3M Doctoral School would like to assist and help PhD students about the different situations of risk regarding mental health that they may experience during their journey to become Doctors. 

Numerous researches indicate that PhD students share specific traits in terms of mental helath and psycological well-being. Those researches state that they present higher rates of depression, anxiety levels and stress, as well as posing suicidal risks, than the average population. Just to mention a few examples: 32% of PhD students have a higher chance to have or develop a psychiatric disorder (especially depression), and more than half might be manifesting symptoms compatible with an emotional disorder (1) ; more than 40% fall under criteria of moderate or severe depression, or anxiety; and between 33%-55% fall under criteria for "suicidal risk". (2)

Among the factors influencing these alarming figures, these researches highlight: loneliness and isolation, the difficulties in reconciling personal and professional lives, conflicts with their supervisors, the "impostor syndrome", procrastination, and the "less than optimistic" prospective to find employment suitable to their education. (3)

References

References:

  1. Hazell, C.M., Niven, J.E., Chapman, L. et al. Nationwide assessment of the mental health of UK Doctoral Researchers. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 8, 305 (2021).https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00983-8

  2. Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L. (2017). Work organization and mental healthproblems in PhD students. Research Policy, 46(4), 868–879. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.02.008

  3. Sorrel, M. A., Martínez-Huertas, J. Á., & Arconada, M. (2020). It must have been burnout: Prevalence and related factorsamong spanish phd students. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 23. e29.https://doi.org/10.1017/SJP.2020.31

For all of this, and based on previous experience, such as our Emotional Self-Management seminar Programa, the Doctoral School is offering a series of sessions tackling all these topics, which we deem to be very interesting for our PhD students.

Seminar UC3M PhD Studies and Mental Health  Programa

Instructor: Mercedes Cavanillas

Duration: 9 hours (6 online sessions)

Language: Spanish

Sessions: January 23, February 6, February 20, March 6, March 20, April 3, and  April 17 (online), from 12:30 to 14:00

Number of Attendants: Max 25

(Mandatory committment of attendance, 2 absences allowed; a Certificate of Attendance will be issued)

Application period: before January 17 

Application form

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