The effects of graduate school on mental disorders

Mental health disorders have reached a tipping point globally. Despite its prevalence, signs and symptoms of mental disorders are often ignored because of their associated stigma. While pursuing their degrees, graduate students are even more likely than the general population to experience a mental disorder. This is a problem of significant public health importance. The purpose of this study was to collect feedback from graduate students with mental disorders about whether and how graduate school affected their mental health. Ten University of Pittsburgh graduate students with diagnosed mental disorders were interviewed. These interviews lasted approximately 45-90 minutes and included questions about the challenges of their graduate programs, what was good about their program, and whether they felt that graduate school had affected their mental health. The results of these interviews include a wealth of data on the opinions of graduate students about many of the factors that affect their lives and their mental health