Tuesday, March 28, 2017

"This is not OK"

Speaking from personal experience, life as a PhD student (particularly in the humanities) can be tough enough even when you don't suffer from any mental health issues. But when you do - like my friend Cat, who has struggled against anxiety and depression for some time - the specific institutional context and increasing demands and pressures of being a doctoral student within the academic machine can be particularly severe and damaging, exacerbating pre-existent problems.

Having completed her thesis and passed her viva, and with the benefit of a bit of distance and perspective, Cat has written about her own experience and drawn some conclusions for the Mindyourhead blog, in the hope that being open and speaking out will be of help to others going through similar situations.

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