Source: Educational Research, No. 7, 2022
Author: Cheng Meng Li Jiayi
Worldwide, depression has become a disease of the times, and the ivory spire has not been spared. The risk of depression in doctoral students in colleges and universities is not only a topic in the field of psychiatry or psychology, but also related to the quality of training high-level innovative talents in the mainland. Through in-depth interviews with doctoral students who are or have been plagued by depression during their doctoral studies, the records of depression experience during doctoral students' doctoral studies are collected through the Internet, and the depression experience of this group is deeply described, and the structural, institutional and cultural roots behind depression problems are explored. As a local moral system, the ivory tower implicitly contains the "doctoral clock" and moral commitments that doctoral students should abide by. Doctoral students plagued by depression encounter various risks and uncertainties in their academic careers, have complex and extremely personal moral perceptions of sunk costs, and are tormented by the fear and crisis of academic failure, and it is difficult to live a dignified moral life. Their quest for healing has undergone a shift from monistic to pluralistic, from linear to complex views of time, relying heavily on the understanding and support of important others. The breakdown and reconstruction of the moral order is key to understanding the mechanisms by which doctoral students experience depression occur and heal. Paying attention to the risk of depression in doctoral students requires understanding their moral situation, breaking through the cultivation and evaluation system that is not conducive to concentrated research and blind pursuit of the number of results, reshaping a healthy academic culture, and providing a relaxed and supportive academic soil for academic innovation of doctoral students.
Keywords: PhD student; Depressive experience; Narrative; Moral order; Academic culture
At present, the mainland has built the world's largest higher education system, but the mental health of doctoral students is not optimistic. Studies have shown that doctoral students in mainland universities are at high risk of depression. [1] The problem of depression in doctoral students is not only a topic in the field of psychiatry or psychology, it is really present in the community of doctoral students in colleges and universities, and it is also a common concern of doctoral students, supervisors, and administrators of colleges and universities. As the highest stage of the national education system, doctoral education is an important embodiment of the country's core competitiveness. The physical and mental health of doctoral students is not only related to whether they can give full play to their academic potential, but also related to the quality of training high-level innovative talents in the mainland. Therefore, it is urgent to explore the structural, institutional and cultural roots behind the depression problem of doctoral students, in order to provide a reference for promoting the cultivation of talents in colleges and universities, and improving the academic culture and mental health intervention system.
Questions are raised
Worldwide, depression has become an era, and the ivory spire has not been spared. Surveys by many well-known foreign universities show that college students' mental health is worrying and the risk of depression has soared. [2] Research by Evans, T. et al. found that graduate students are 6 times more likely to experience depression and anxiety than the general population. [3] According to Nature's 2019 Global Doctoral Student Survey, 36% of PhD students reported having sought help for depression or anxiety, a three-fold increase from 2017. [4]
At the end of the 20th century, the expansion policy implemented by mainland colleges and universities has promoted a rapid expansion of the number of doctoral students, from 17,724 in 1999 to 63,762 in 2010[5] and 116,047 by 2020. According to a 2019 report in the journal Nature, 40 percent of respondents in a survey of 690 Chinese doctoral students said they had sought help for depression and anxiety during their PhDs, compared with 36 percent in other countries. [7] In 2016, according to the Beijing Youth Daily, 40 people at a famous university in Beijing were confirmed to be depressed, and more masters and doctors were sick. [8] On the Q&A website "Zhihu", the question "How to alleviate the symptoms of repeated depression during PhD reading?" A total of 267 people answered, with the highest number of 156 likes. [9] In September 2020, the National Health Commission issued the "Work Plan for Exploring Special Services for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression", which proposed that "all high schools and colleges and universities should include depression screening in the content of students' health examinations", which has aroused widespread concern and discussion. [10] Some scholars have pointed out that "our children are vulnerable today" and that "education should return to the health of students", including physical, mental, and spiritual health. [11]
Although the topic of depression in doctoral students often attracts people's attention, it often "changes color" in real life. Much of the public's understanding of doctoral students' depression comes from news reports that they choose to end their lives because of depression, and they are accustomed to attributing the causes of their depression to "can't think", "stress", and even lead to moral accusations such as selfishness and filial piety. This kind of rough, static understanding makes it difficult to understand what depressed PhD students go through, simplifies the social roots of depression, and ignores the interaction between the pain and the subject.
There is a hypothesis in the medical field that methods that are effective in alleviating depression for undergraduates also apply to Doctoral students. But some studies in recent years have shown that many of the experiences of PhD students are unique compared to other students, and that their mental health issues deserve special attention. [12] Some of the relevant analyses involving depression in doctoral students are attributed to superficial external factors such as "excessive graduation requirements",[13] "scientific work involves complex and advanced work",[14] or to personality traits such as "strong competitiveness" [8] and "perfectionism".[16] Little is known about the differences in the mechanisms by which depression occurs among PhD students and other groups, but researchers are increasingly aware of the importance of conducting independent studies of depression in PhD students and are gradually moving toward structural explanations for the causes of depression in PhD students. [2]
At present, in-depth research on the problem of depression in doctoral students is still rare, and pedagogical theories are less concerned about the significance of mental illness in adolescent growth. Once adolescents face problems such as depression, they are classified as psychological or psychiatric territory. Pedagogy should not be absent as a "science of fascination with the growth of others"[18] or as its essence the "healthy development of the mind" [19]. At present, the "sensitivity" and "stigma" of depression still exist, and it is particularly necessary to use the sociological imagination to elevate the "personal distress" caused by depression to the "social thesis" of doctoral students [20]. Based on this, this study attempts to analyze the social root causes of depression problems in doctoral students by deeply describing the inner experience of doctoral students in the process of facing depression, living with depression and seeking treatment, and exploring the mechanism of depression problems of doctoral students and the way of mitigation.
Concepts, paradigms and methods
Behind the concept of depression lies a complex process of social construction. In the study of depression in doctoral students, it is necessary to explore the origin and controversy of the concept of "depression", find appropriate research paradigms and methods, and then deeply describe the depression experience and its mechanism of this group.
(i) Depression: "Wastepaper basket" is also a disease entity
There are many theories about the origins of depression, and there is no unified understanding. As Beak( A.T. and Alford , B.A. questioned in Depression: Causes and Treatment " , " Is depression a perfectly defined clinical entity with clear causes and predictable onsets, processes , and outcomes , or a wastepaper basket of multiple disorders?" ”[21]
Professor Kleinman, A. of Harvard University is the lead researcher in promoting depression to gradually replace neurasthenia in China. [22] In a study of patients diagnosed with "neurasthenia" at Hunan Medical College in the 1980s, he found that patients' neurasthenia could be reinterpreted as "major depressive disorder". [23] In the 21st century, the diagnosis of neurasthenia began to decline, and depression became the mainstream diagnosis in the psychiatric community. In April 2002, the China Mental Health Work Plan (2002-2010) identified depression as a key disease to be prevented. The government's strong promotion and widespread publicity have made depression a mental illness widely recognized by the Chinese medical community. [24] Based on different understandings of the nature of depression, the following three research paradigms have been formed.
First, the dominant biological psychiatry believes that there is an objective existence of a disease entity known as "depression." [25] Second, the anti-psychiatry paradigm, or, as Goffman, E., argues that "everyone may also exhibit any basic psychiatric symptom",[26] or madness, as Foucault, M., considers "irrational experience", but is transformed into "disease" in the course of the evolution of civilization,[27] or, as Szasz, T. believes. Psychiatry is an instrument of political power".[28] Commercial forces can also infiltrate the psychiatric community, making "the diagnosis of mental illness increasingly manipulated by pharmaceutical companies". Third, medical anthropology in cross-cultural contexts argues that depression reflects "a relationship between the individual and society," "a social emotion and disorder," and is inextricably linked to social institutions, social suffering, and social relationships. [23] "Depression" connects the body, self, and society, and is rooted in local cultural contexts. If you want to break through the daily understanding of depression in doctoral students, you must delve into the social construction process of the "depression experience".
(ii) The narrative of pain as a research paradigm
"Crisis and impermanence are inherent in life"[31] and so are diseases. As Sontag, S., put it, "Illness is the yin side of life, a more troublesome citizenship." Every person who comes to this earth has dual citizenship, one of which belongs to the kingdom of health and the other to the kingdom of disease." [32] Since the second half of the 20th century, along with the trend of many social problems being increasingly medicalized, "curbing and controlling the proliferation of medical ideologies" has also been put on the agenda, and reflections on the medicalization of society have been endless. The popularity of biological psychiatry has led to much of the study of psychiatry narrowed to a biological and genetic dimension, toward a mindless biological psychiatry. Some studies believe that the essence of the medicalization process is to give the physical and mental states of certain members of society (such physical and mental states usually have the characteristics of social deviance) to be "gazed" by Western medicine, thus paving the way for biomedical intervention. [34] In Asylums, Goffman gives us a clear picture of the problems with psychiatric diagnosis.
When an imminent patient undergoes the first admissions meeting, the doctor in charge applies the medical model. Regardless of the patient's social situation, regardless of the characteristics of his "disease", the patient's problem can be regarded as one that can be "discussed", if not "treated", using a single technical, psychiatric point of view. The fact that the patient's gender, age, race, marital status, religious beliefs, or social class are all different is nothing more than a project that will be taken into account and corrected, so that universal psychiatric theories can be applied and the themes behind the shallow external differences in social life can be perceived. [26]
Goffman points out the problem as the proverb goes, "If you have only one hammer, you're full of nails"1. The process of specialization of mental illness in the field of medicine can easily "lead us to a model of the individual that is both superficial and impersonal, denying the moral significance of man in the process of specialization of man's mental problems". According to KaiBowen's distinction between illness and disease, "depression" in this article refers to pain rather than "disease". The problem of illness is not only the disease itself, but also refers to "the patient and his family, and even the wider social relationship".[37] Compared with the disease, the pain points to the individual's holistic and deep life experience, which is the patient's personal feelings about the physical abnormalities or discomfort caused by the disease and a series of social experiences. Kai Bowen's advocacy of the illness narrative can help us get closer to the patient's experience of the illness, interpret the social nature of the illness, understand the cultural and moral implications behind the illness, and embody the "phenomenological research perspective".
Depression is both a life ordeal for an individual and part of what Bourdieu (P.) calls "suffering that reflects the social order"[39] or what Wilkinson, I. calls "social suffering"[40]. As a social emotional disorder, depression points not only to individual doctoral students, but also to the cultural and institutional situations in which doctoral students live, and even to certain common pathologies of our time. The causes of depression in doctoral students are social, and it is particularly necessary to record the inner experiences and social actions in the depressive experience, and to criticize and reflect on the social causes of depression.
(3) Research objects and methods
This study aims to explore the "depression issue" of doctoral students through the narrative of illness. The "depression problem" mentioned here not only includes depression diagnosed by the hospital psychiatric department2, but also covers the "depressed mood" that has not been diagnosed by the hospital but has different degrees of depressive symptoms, and seriously affects normal life and learning, and undermines the order of individual life. "Depression problems" not only refer to depressive symptoms, but also cover the various social experiences that accompany the occurrence and development of depression. Considering the risks and ethical issues that may be faced by selecting a doctoral student who is experiencing moderate or severe depression as a study subject, the interviewees mainly selected doctoral students who have been suffering from depression or are experiencing mild depression.
Depression is a sensitive topic, which poses a challenge to the collection of research data. One article in Nature even wrote: "Frankly, it is much easier to talk about the death of a depressed person than to talk about a person who lives with depression." [41] The stigmatization of mental illness in Chinese society and culture makes physical problems rather than psychological problems a legitimate reason to seek help. Even if people with depression are aware of the possibility of depression, they may hide their true situation from others for fear of being treated differently, and hide and suppress their depressed feelings. Given the complexity and privacy of the experience of depression, approaching this complex human experience through the narrative of the actor subject is of particular relevance to research. Therefore, in the process of research, two methods of collecting data are mainly adopted: in-depth interviews and autobiographical sociology.
1. In-depth interviews
In-depth interviews can adjust questions at any time to help researchers "interpretively understand the world of meaning of the respondent". Through online invitations, personal relationships, etc., we conducted in-depth interviews with 11 PhD students and 3 postdocs who had experienced depression during their PhD3. Of the 14 interviewees, 5 were diagnosed with depression or depression in the hospital, and 9 were or had been plagued by depression. (See Table 1)
Research has sought to shed light on what these PhD students who experienced "depression," how they described their experiences with depression, and how they understood the causes, processes, and effects of depression. In the interview, we respect the wishes of the research subjects and do not overdo the interviews. In some cases, shorthand is used to respect the respondent's request not to record. At the same time, the interview records are kept confidential and anonymized to fully protect the privacy of the interviewees.
2. Autobiographical sociology
In the field of sociology, autobiographical sociology is the most "humanistic" approach, trying to "rescue man from structure". [43] Thomas, W.I., and Znaniecki,F.'s The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, published 1918–1920, is recognized as the earliest and most important biographical study, using hundreds of letters from Polish immigrants and a large number of immigrant diaries and memoirs. [44]
From 2018 to 2022, the research team successively collected the records of 24 doctoral students who had experienced depression on the online platform (Zhihu 21, Douban 2, and Xiaomu Worm), and regarded this personal record as an autobiographical text. There are two criteria for screening the biographical experience of doctoral students: First, it is clearly disclosed that it has been diagnosed with depression or depression in the hospital and that there is a "depressed mood" that obviously disrupts the order of life; Second, the records are more detailed and rich. According to these two criteria, nearly 60,000 words of depression experience records were collected. 4
As a text record derived from the Internet, although it is difficult to confirm the authenticity of its narrative (some netizens narrate through the anonymity function of the website), its advantages are also precisely here. The vast majority of records come from anonymous netizens, and the narrator can confidently reveal his own experience and account, with less consideration of the impact on existing social relations, so the overall is more real and credible. These personal records are a kind of memory retrospective, and "backtracking" is "transcendence of repression". This approach is more suitable for the study of the more sensitive and private individual experiences, and can be used as a supplement to in-depth interviews. In addition, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the current doctoral training and mental health prevention and intervention system of colleges and universities, the research team also interviewed 3 doctoral supervisors and 5 counselors (including part-time class teachers).
The depressive experience of a PhD student
The experience of depression has been emotionally portrayed in politicians, writers, and artists. Churchill (W.) once called depression a "black dog." [46] Solomon, A., described severe depression this way: "A depressed heart obscures your gaze from looking at the world and seeing yourself, and crying without tears is a reflection of this life." [47] Although depressive experiences have some similarities, the depressive experiences of different groups occur in specific social soils, are situational, and necessarily have different characteristics due to the cultural and institutional framework of the life scenario in which they are placed. In the domestic discourse system related to depression, psychology and medical discourse dominate. "Patients' words are all obscured and hidden, and patients fail to become the main body of depression discourse construction." [48] Approaching the depressed feelings of doctoral students requires a glimpse of the imprint of pain flowing through their narratives.
(1) Pressure
The experience of depression is tightly intertwined with the experience of stress. Although stress is a universal factor in depression, the stress experience of doctoral students has its own uniqueness, which is closely related to the doctoral student's academic experience, the academic environment in which they are located, peer pressure, age anxiety, gender and other factors. In interviews, one PhD student mentioned that he had been in a cyclical mild depression since undergraduate.
When I was in high school, I was more stressed academically, because the competitive pressure was particularly intense in that place. When I first went to college, I was still in a state of full firepower, that is, I wanted to protect research. When it was time to relax, I didn't relax, and the pressure on myself was still too much. I have been in a state of high pressure for a long time, and it is the accumulation of that emotion there... Don't want to go to class, don't want to get up... When it was two weeks, my parents couldn't sit still, so they took me to the hospital to see it, and after doing the examination, the diagnosis was confirmed. （X-F-14)
The pressure on the PhD is even more severe. The first pressure is the innovation pressure that comes with the PhD itself. The doctoral stage is different from other academic stages, and it is necessary to find your own research field and make original academic achievements.
On the one hand, I hope to be able to do work that others have not done, at least make a little contribution to the discipline. On the other hand, after receiving countless repressions, I thought, Love, I want to graduate! I'm going to mix a paper and hurry up! Angels and demons kept tearing at my spirit and eventually falling apart in this entanglement. （X-F-4)
The second pressure comes from the comparison and competition of peer groups. Although doctoral students are relatively independent of each other, competition and comparison of academic achievements in the same academic field are inevitable. The difference in the pace of students in opening questions, publishing, etc. can easily increase additional pressure.
Some of my classmates were already on the topic in November. But at that time, because my project was not going well, the teacher felt that I was not mature now, so I moved back a little... With some respite and time to face my emotions, I felt as if something wasn't right, something was wrong. I seem to have been pushing me because of the deadline, but now that I have a little time to breathe but the pressure has not gone, I find myself unable to do things. （X-F-3)
Female PhD students often face another sociocultural pressure, especially the anxieties that accompany age and marriage and childbearing.
Girls, because you have been studying for a doctorate for four or five years, and you are almost thirty years old after you come out. If you haven't settled down with your boyfriend, you can't get married, and you can't determine which city you're going to work in the future, the pressure is greater than that of boys. （X-F-5)
(2) Loss
Once stress accumulates to an extent that an individual cannot bear, it can significantly reduce normal learning and productivity.
After October last year, after the mentor gave me the task, I could not continue at all, and it is difficult to describe that state. It's that you sit in front of the computer and can't read a word, you really can't do anything. The night was probably a muddy past, and the next morning I woke up crying. （X-F-2)
The experience of depression in doctoral students is often accompanied by loss of the ability to study and work efficiently in the past, the inability to meet the expectations of oneself and others, and the disruption of their original life order. Loss is a vicious circle, and damage to a certain aspect of ability can easily affect an individual's physical and mental state, which can lead to more frustration.
Sleep is not good for a long time, dreaming all night long, waking up in the morning feels like the whole person is like not sleeping, that is, the whole head is very dizzy. The next day was not in a good state and there was no way to concentrate wholeheartedly. In this way, at night, you will feel that you are not efficient, and then the whole person will be a little depressed, and then it will affect sleep, which is a vicious circle. （X-F-5)
I felt like I was really sick, the kind of illness I couldn't control, I didn't know what to do, the whole person was numb and desperate, not interested in anything. （X-M-7)
People who were so lively became so taciturn. My mother said that I used to be happy birds, how come now. （X-F-8)
When a depressed Doctoral student loses interest in experiencing and enjoying life, academia is almost a burden on life, and the ability to live an ordinary life is also deprived. The vicious circle of loss is manifested both in the accumulation of academic pressure and in the continued frustration of personal self-confidence. It's like a balloon that is constantly being pressurized, one day reaching the tipping point of collapse, until it loses confidence in itself and the courage to rebuild its life.
(3) Negative cognition
The mental tension, insomnia, and anxiety caused by depression make it impossible for doctoral students to maintain their usual work efficiency, and their academic pressure cannot be reduced for a long time, and even every day this pressure is increasing, like drowning. Long-term frustration can make individuals tend to attribute failure to their own internal, universal, and immutable defects, and irrational deviations into their self-perception. [49] Poor academic progress leads to doubts about one's academic abilities, which in turn can extend to doubts about one's omnipotence.
(PhD) At that time I would have thought about dropping out of school. At that time, I couldn't let go, I couldn't stay in that environment any longer. You think that many of my classmates, many of my direct doctoral classmates, people have become college teachers, people's development is very smooth, teachers and sisters are getting up, and it is still difficult for me to graduate. There is too much tangible, intangible, own, external pressure. I have too much vulnerability in my bones... Those you can't bear, you think about the eyes of outsiders who evaluate you and the negation of yourself in your heart. （X-F-12)
Academic difficulties make them have a mountain in their hearts all the time. As Shoma, M. Morita put it in his analysis of "neurasthenia": "Focus your attention on a particular feeling at all times." The deeper the attention, the sharper the feeling, the stronger the feeling, and the more focused the attention becomes. [50] The state of depression causes the individual to shift from outward active exploration to wrestling with the self, forming an inner dilemma that is difficult to break out, undermining the doctoral student's self-driven and resource integration efforts, and continuing to hurt self-esteem and self-confidence. They will ignore what they have achieved, have difficulty looking at their situation dialectically, and easily fall into black-and-white thinking patterns and think that they are worthless.
(4) Sensitive
PhD students who are depressed are particularly concerned about the reactions of others to their words and deeds, and become particularly sensitive, producing strong emotional reactions. Even they themselves are often surprised by the fierce outbursts of their emotions.
Once I was with my mother, the teacher sent me a WeChat message that day, which caused me to have a bit of a depression that night, that is, an emotional breakdown. Then my mom said a little bit, how can you say that? Then I started to lose my temper, either I wouldn't say it, or I was in particular pain. I was alone that day and cried for an hour or two, and I ran away from home and frightened my mother. （X-F-2)
I often call my boyfriend in the corridor barefoot in the winter, argue as I talk, and run outside for fear of affecting others' rest in the corridor. The cold wind outside at minus ten degrees celsius is biting, plus the angry me, the emotions out of control I... I screamed madly. I don't know myself anymore. （E-Z-22)
Because of emotional abnormalities, doctoral students who are depressed are not only troubled by the pain itself, but also may suffer damage to interpersonal relationships, and face deep frustration and powerlessness in getting along with important others. When a person is in a state of physical and mental weakness, immersed in a diffuse insecurity, it is difficult to balance his inner emotions. Sensitivity is not a personality trait, but an inner projection, but also an emotional catharsis and self-protection. Academic pressure and family incomprehension will also aggravate the negative psychological experience of the patient himself, and the continuous external pressure will continue to internalize and transform into harsh criticism and attack on the self.
(5) Somatization
Depression is not only an individual's psychological and mental tension, but also brings somatized feelings and symptoms. Once faced with an unfinished task, continued frustration and having to complete, unbearable stress will trigger a series of physical reactions, insomnia, headaches and other common symptoms of discomfort.
I can't eat, I feel like a walking dead, the world is gray, I am tired and tired, and I can't sleep at night. During the day, sitting on the camera, my brain hurts, but I can't sleep well or can't sleep. （X-F-6)
The somatization of depression can be understood as "the pain of the individual and between individuals expressed through the idiomatic language of a physiological disease, including a model of medical treatment based on which the individual experiences serious personal and social problems, but through the medium of the body to explain, express, experience and respond to these problems" [23]. In a study of depressed patients in Hong Kong, the mainland, some researchers believe that although patients are aware of their emotional disturbances, they still tend to express themselves with "somatized" symptoms when asking for help. [52] X-M-7 initially thought he had a stomach problem, but only later did he see a psychiatrist on the advice of a doctor and was diagnosed with moderate depression. Kebberman points out: "Physical problems have social markers, while psychological problems do not. [23] The symptoms of somatization seek a culturally acceptable discourse for mental suffering. Even for phD students with long-term higher education, accurately judging their mental health is difficult, and they often seek help first because of physical discomfort.
In general, in the depressed experience of doctoral students, they are overwhelmed by stress, wrapped in a sense of loss, and their lives are permeated with negative cognition of themselves, they are particularly sensitive to interpersonal relationships, and even produce various somatized symptoms. These symptoms are not only the manifestation of the inner pain of individual doctoral students living in ivory towers, but also reflect the many hidden worries in the current higher education system environment.
Institutionalize the risk of survival
The British anthropologist Douglas M. has this interpretation of society in Purity and Danger: "The concept of 'society' is a powerful image. It has in itself the right to dominate or make people act. This image has its form, as well as external boundaries, edges and internal structure. Its program has an ability to reward obedience and repel attacks. [54] The institution of cultivation and the academic culture in which doctoral students live in the ivory tower also collectively constitute such a local moral system, as well as a number of visible and invisible "boundaries, margins, and internal structures", the essence of which is an institutionalized classification system, that is, the demarcation of the proper order of time, the boundaries of speech and behavior, and the establishment of moral commitments to be observed by actors. Such an institutionalized classification system forms the soil for the growth of the depression experience of doctoral students. Therefore, it is necessary to look beyond the depression experience of individual PhD students and examine the institutional framework and academic culture in which they are exposed.
(1) Moving forward in uncertainty
"Publish or perish" has become the default unspoken rule of the scientific community. [55] A phD career is also a journey with anxiety. [56] With the emergence of new public management concepts and auditing cultures that pursue performance in recent years,[57] the publication of doctoral students has become an important part of the scientific research strength of institutions of higher learning. The mandatory regulations on the publication of doctoral students' results remain the "tight curse" for every doctoral student. As one PhD student put it in an interview with the media, "A Ph.D. without an article is like a concubine without heirs." [58] Most institutions of higher learning specify that several papers of the corresponding level must be published in order to apply for graduation defense. At the T University G College, where X-F-12 is located, the dissertation publication requirements for doctoral students: "During the academic period, at least 2 academic papers related to the research content of the dissertation should be published as the first author, at least 1 of which is officially published in the journal included in the "Catalogue of Important Academic Journals for Doctoral Dissertations published by doctoral students of the T-University G School" and the other one published in Chinese the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index( hereinafter referred to as CSSCI) in academic journals and collections; Or, as the first author, publish an academic paper (including an acceptance letter) on dissertation work in a journal included in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The supplements of the above periodicals and collections are not counted. ”
At the university where X-M-9 is located, more than 2 CSSCI journal papers are required to be published, and some colleges require one of them to be an authoritative journal prescribed by the college. Studies have shown that there is a huge contradiction between the number of doctoral dissertation requirements and the carrying capacity of journals, the reality of difficulty in publishing academic papers and the proliferation of deferred graduation phenomena, resulting in the low feasibility of publishing qualification papers. [59] Graduation on time without a compliant publication is largely a harbinger of a lack of peace of mind in a competitive job search environment.
The reason I suffered from depression was that during the period of my PhD, I could not pass the paper and was in a state of high pressure for a long time. During that time, it was indeed painful, oscillating and hesitating between dropping out of school and continuing to study for a doctorate. I feel that I am worthless, that living is a waste of food, that there is no value. （E-Z-18)
The pressure during the doctoral period is both continuous and full of various risks and uncertainties, as a "qualified" doctoral student, it is often necessary to coordinate the relationship between their own small papers and large papers, as well as to coordinate the relationship between their academic research and supervisor topics. The production and feedback cycle of academic achievements is relatively long. For doctoral students who have just entered the academic field, it is more necessary to explore in the chaos for a long time. X-F-5 admits, "One of the biggest pressures of PhD reading is that there is no timely positive feedback... It's not that there is this kind of financial pressure to study for a PhD, mainly because there is no feeling of 'you give and then you get'. In most animals, uncontrollable and stressful events lead to "learned helplessness"6. Once doctoral students lack positive feedback for a long time, it is easy to fall into the dilemma of learned helplessness due to heavy pressure. Of course, it should be noted that the actual situation of each doctoral student is different, and the limits of pressure that can be endured are also different. Even the same kind of pressure can have a different impact on individuals in different institutional contexts.
(2) "Doctoral reading clock" and time management
The social clock refers to important life transitions defined by age. If the individual does the given thing at a given age, and the new role conforms to social norms, it is considered appropriate, and vice versa is considered inappropriate. [60] We can think of PhD reading as a tense journey in life, so naturally there will be a doctoral clock. That is, a specific view of time that is considered "legitimate" to achieve the corresponding goal at the appropriate time frame and node.
At S University, where I was a ph.D. at X-M-12, three years is the "standard" graduation time. The best time rhythm is to complete the course credits in the first year, the first semester of the second year to start the topic, and considering the increasingly fierce academic positions in China, applying for the joint training of the National Scholarship Council for half a year to one year will increase their job search advantages. Under this kind of clock, it is easy for doctoral students to unconsciously ask themselves to carry out strict time management, afraid that they have become a doctor who is on time or overdue, and only with a high degree of self-discipline can they achieve the expected goals at the specified time.
If one link goes wrong, it may go in another direction. There are many such hurdles. If you have a bad one, your previous job will be denied. （X-F-3)
Third grade, it's not logical that I should have graduated. The result is not yet open... When I was in the fourth grade, because of the most explosive time in the fourth grade, I didn't dare to go out of the door of the dormitory for 3 months, not afraid to come out, I didn't want to come out, I was afraid to see the light. （X-F-8)
At present, in most colleges and universities in China, the academic doctoral study period is generally three to five years, and can be extended to a maximum of six years. "Deferral" not only means that it is difficult to obtain a degree on time, but also means that the potential economic benefits of at least half a year, a year or even a few years of the extension are lost, which in turn may also affect major life choices such as finding a job, or even getting married and having children. Compared with the elastic "qualitative time" and "soft" time,[61] the institutionalized time in which doctoral students live is a kind of "quantitative time" 7 and "hard time" with little elasticity. Doctoral students have to make research that has real academic value, but also need to face the pressure of issuing papers and graduating in an increasingly competitive academic market. In order to fit themselves into such a tight schedule, they need to keep running, racing against the clock, trying to avoid risks, and unceasingly accumulating chips for an uncertain future.
I've always worried about graduation, which is that the Ph.D. took three or four years. In the normal four years, you can't finish your work, and four years of hard work are wasted. （X-M-1)
In this kind of "rushing through the barriers" style of Doctoral study, every level is full of hardships, uncertainties and risks. Once time is delayed at a certain stage, the opportunity cost can be unbearable. Under such a view of time, doctoral students are easily bound by the "doctoral clock", and can almost only accept success, and can not have any mistakes. In order to meet this expectation, normal relaxation and enjoyment of life can easily be considered as lowering the requirements for oneself, "wasting" time, and even generating a strong sense of guilt. In the long run, the harshness of time means the harshness of the heart, and the ego has been completely occupied by a set of moral codes hidden within the system. The moral implications of a PhD student's experience of depression remind us to pay more attention to the social role of PhD students and the implicit moral implications of PhD reading itself.
(iii) Moral perception in sunk costs
For many phD students, it is already difficult to maintain a pure student role, and may need to assume multiple roles such as academic researcher or even family supporter at the same time, shouldering corresponding moral responsibilities, and under pressure far beyond academia itself. Once doctoral students cannot follow the "doctoral reading clock" to complete a series of work such as issuing papers, opening topics, pre-defense, blind review, and defense on time, it is difficult to graduate on schedule, and they also have to bear great pressure in the comparison of peer groups. The success of the PhD is not only related to one's own years of efforts, family expectations, and one's future, but also means the entire fulcrum of one's self-worth. Once this fulcrum is shaken, the whole world of life crumbling. For struggling PhD students, whether to keep working or give up is a tough choice. They have complex, highly personal moral perceptions of the sunk cost of a PhD.
During the day, the mood is so uncomfortable that I am going to die, and I am worried that I will not be able to finish my job. My master's and doctoral students only have a bachelor's degree, worried about how to meet the expectations of their parents after graduation, in short, all kinds of complicated feelings are like evil ghosts, sticking to you all the time. It's so easy to get to the night, lying in bed, your head is still stuffed with all kinds of despair about the future, and when you are sleepy, it is like someone tugging at your eyelids, making you sleepy but unable to sleep. It was easy to fall asleep, and within 3 hours I woke up again. （E-Z-16)
X-F-4 also said: "[If you're a PhD] it's a void at the end. Then my youth and life have no meaning. E-Z-10 wrote: "Why did I work so hard for more than 20 years, and in the end I fell to the bottom of society." E-Z-5, for three months on leave, was afraid that "if I don't finish this Ph.D., it will be a shadow for my whole life." The cost of dropping out is high, and once you give up your doctoral studies, or can only get a master's degree, or even an undergraduate degree to find a job, then the past few years will become a "sunk cost". If you want to drop out of school and work directly, "compared to other PhD graduates, they don't have a degree." [62] They lack experience compared to other people who enter the job market after graduating from undergraduates." For doctoral students from poor families, phD study is considered to be a must, almost the only way to go. The E-Z-10 asserts: "There is no job without a degree, and there is no future without a job." They could neither give up nor move forward, trapped in an impermeable inner cage, "becoming prisoners of the freest and most open place: bound to a road junction with countless destinations".
The more doctoral students rely on and recognize a set of ethics implicit in the institutional environment in which they live, the more likely they are to be in a state of "institutionalized survival." Once you fall into the vicious circle of academics, the past time can no longer be recovered, the current predicament cannot be alleviated, and you become a morally insatiable person. After encountering all the risks and uncertainties of their academic careers, they can easily fall into the dilemma of "de-moralization". At the end of the day, depression is an inevitable risk that accompanies institutionalized survival.
The shattering and rebuilding of the moral order
Wherever we are, we must always be in a basic framework of human life and a specific local institutional scene. In the narrative of the doctoral student's depressive experience, we see that the process of phD reading is also a process of self and institutionalized environment, inner expectations and external reality constantly colliding, which is full of rich emotions and complex expectations, responsibilities and guilt. Arguably, the narrative of the depressive experience is also a narrative of moral experience. Understanding the mechanisms of depression and the methods of mitigation in Doctoral students requires a careful examination of their moral world. From the healing process narrated by the depressed doctor, we can see their creative practice of trying to break free from the original moral cage and restore moral autonomy.
(1) The turn of the view of time
Time is a window into creative practice. In interviews and self-statements, many doctoral students mentioned that after studying for a doctorate, they "do not have their own life", "overtime work is daily", and even "day and night are reversed". Smoller (J) writes in The Other Side of Normal that normal is often given the meaning of "standard," i.e., "ought to be," but that normal does not equal "correct." [64]
The scientific research and cultural environment of "taking 'overwork work' and 'overtime overtime' as virtues" has gradually transformed overtime work into a moral responsibility, which has eroded the physical and mental health of doctoral students bit by bit. Under the pressure of the "PhD clock", doctoral students will desperately squeeze out more time for academics, struggling to balance academics and life, and "feel that all the time not writing papers is wasted" (E-Z-1). Because academic research is not going well, doctoral students are often prone to self-punishment, delaying or abandoning normal communication, sports, and daily enjoyment. This single-goal view of time stems from the institutional and cultural environment in which doctoral students live, and further exacerbates their actual situation. After depression, many respondents began to examine the boundaries of their academic time and life time, turning to a more multi-purpose view of time.
Aromatherapy, raising a cat, moving out to live on your own, and constant exercise are somewhat good for mood. The only thing that can make you not anxious is to learn new things, to see results in a certain period of time, to learn drums, boxing, to learn Chinese painting, and to know different people. （X-F-4)
In addition to excavating their own life value outside of doing a good job in scientific research, rebuilding confidence and sense of meaning, the shift from a linear view of time to a complex view of time is also an important aspect of doctoral students' exit from the depression dilemma. The linear view of time holds that everyone's life is like a pawn across the river, and can only move forward. The linear view of time cannot tolerate setbacks and unhappiness, and it is difficult to restore confidence in the self after being hit, which will only put doctoral students in the midst of the pressure that is difficult to escape and the moral conflict that is increasingly pulled, and lose the ability to repair themselves from the cage of time and then break through the barriers. Under such a view of time, doctoral students who are immersed in depression will strongly bind their thesis, degree, work and future. The complex view of time believes that life is not smooth sailing, and it is inevitable that there will be ups and downs. In their quest for healing, these hard chains of logic in their minds gradually loosened and began to reconstruct their cognition, believing that many things did not need to be "taken so seriously" (X-F-2) and that "not everything can be done with effort" (E-Z-22). Time is the backdrop for all people and events. The change in the chronological order is not only about the attitude toward time, but also about how the subject understands the boundaries between scholarship and life, the relationship between the self and others, and the boundaries of one's own moral responsibility.
(2) Moral situation and moral life
If depression is seen as a social emotional disorder, the emotional pain experienced by a doctoral student suffering from depression must be a social pain and a moral pain. The X-F-12 stood twice on the roof of the school's tallest building at the height of its depression. In the interview, she reflected on the reasons for her low state at that time.
Why didn't I want to live during that time? I let my family down, I disappointed my teachers, I disappointed my classmates, I didn't know what to do... Too much for me to bear.
Similarly, the X-F-2 was mired in such a moral anguish. As a doctor of science and engineering, she has been a good girl since she was a child. "Whatever the teacher says, I must work hard to do it, and I must strive to meet the expectations of the teacher and become a good student and a good student in the eyes of the teacher." However, in the process of her doctoral studies, she met a teacher who often "suppressed" and belittled students, and it was always difficult to satisfy the tutor, "in any case, she could not meet his expectations." On the other hand, "as a master sister, I also bear the responsibility of helping the same group of teachers and sisters."
Both "trying to meet the expectations of the teacher" and "being a master sister" here suggest that the X-F-2's depressive experience comes with a strong sense of moral burden. When they cannot bear these moral burdens that they think they should bear, the moral self begins to crack until it collapses. In Horney's (K.), "Despair is the end product of conflict, rooted in the patient's abandonment of hope of keeping the body and mind united from being divided." [65] Under the biomedical model, no matter what kind of social factors cause depression, it is possible to prescribe medication based on symptoms. Although drugs can alleviate symptoms, it is still up to you to really solve the moral conflicts that are entangled in the mind.
In times of crisis, support from the networks around us is especially important. X-F-2 once plucked up the courage to meet her mentor after depression, but the mentor directly denied her judgment of depression after meeting - "You have no depression at all, phD reading is like this." "Different mentors have very different attitudes toward depression. After X-F-4 told the mentor, the mentor gave understanding and care, "it feels like treating a child, let the master brother be nice to me." When X-F-12 was on the brink of depression, she reflected on being able to come out of it as "thankful to have some strength, including my two mentors and brothers, who were willing to help me." X-F-3, on the other hand, talked about being afraid to tell his supervisor about depression, fearing being treated as "a fragile, vulnerable person" by his mentor and losing his mentor's trust and academic resources. If a doctoral student hides his depression for fear of not being understood or losing academic trust, he may be considered insufficient effort or serious by the tutor because he cannot complete normal academic tasks, which will cause tension in the teacher-student relationship, which in turn will increase his academic pressure.
However, many doctoral supervisors lack understanding of mental illness and lack appropriate psychological preparation, and do not know how to deal with it. In an interview with a doctoral supervisor D-F-1 of a well-known institution, the teacher admitted that he had a depressed student, and when he learned that the student was depressed, he would "speak very carefully", and he also felt inexplicably uneasy, did not know how to get along with the student, did not know how to help the student, and could only minimize the academic requirements for the student. In an interview with C-F-3, a teacher in charge of student work at a school in Beijing, she confessed that she was most afraid of encountering depressed students when doing student work, bluntly saying that "if there is a depressed student in the class, then you are finished." The lack of mental health knowledge and sensitivity to depression in colleges and universities has also increased the psychological burden borne by individuals suffering from depression to a certain extent, and it is difficult to activate the interpersonal support resources around doctoral students without opening their mouths to ask for help.
As early as the 1990s, Higgins (E.T.) proposed that differences between an individual's beliefs, standards, and practices and social moral norms increased their likelihood of developing depression. [66] Kaibwen also pointed out that "the most basic fact of mental health is moral: individuals with mental illness live in the worst moral situations." [67] So what is the moral situation of depression-stricken PhD students? In the face of the hard measures required to complete the doctoral studies, the lack of publication, the lack of time nodes on the card to read the various levels of the doctoral degree and other "unexpected" situations will bring great inner pressure to doctoral students. Once the lack of external support is superimposed, it is easy to breed depression. Deferring graduation can sometimes be unbearable, and dropping out of school is an extremely difficult and heavy choice that runs counter to the ethics of a "competent" and "good" doctoral student.
When the doctor's own moral practice is difficult to meet the "doctoral clock" that has been internalized in the heart and the moral expectations around him, he will face "the most valued values and feelings are threatened or lost". The development of the disease makes their efforts to live a moral life often difficult, falling into a vicious circle, resulting in "desperate, de-moralized, self-confessed failed personalities and situations". PhD students plagued by depression are often unable to fulfill their moral commitments and responsibilities, unable to meet the expectations of others, unable to even express their emotions, constantly tormented by the great crisis of moral failure, and facing the dilemma of having difficulty living a dignified "moral life".
The social roots of depression in Doctoral students come from complex conflicts between individual and endemic scenarios implicitly ethical norms. These conflicts destroy the original value system, cause the collapse of the original moral order, and destroy the moral world on which they depend. Liberation from the implicit moral conflict of depression and the re-establishment of moral order are the key to transcending the distress of depression. It can be said that the "de-moralization" and "re-moralization" of the living conditions of doctoral students plagued by depression is a basic framework for understanding the mechanisms of occurrence and healing of their depressive experiences. In this way, depression can be seen as a natural response of the actor's body and mind to the external environment, allowing some kind of great pressure beyond the existing scope of the actor to appear to us. The depression experience of Doctoral Students allows us to see the complex relationship between individual Doctoral students and their environment.
This moment of crisis is not only fraught with pain, but can also be meaningful. In the interview, X-F-12 confessed that "it is these pains I have experienced, my own reflections, that have made me an indestructible person." Depression is also an opportunity for Doctoral students to rebuild their moral order and moral life. After falling into depression, X-F-2 enlisted the support of its parents and boyfriend and received a "it's okay even if you drop out of school." After that, she temporarily suspended everything related to her studies, chose to take a six-month suspension, and re-established the boundaries of the teacher-student relationship with her tutor after her recovery, and finally successfully completed her studies. When it comes to helping friends, I no longer "force myself to do anything, and only when I really want to, really want to, and be happy, I will do my best to help others." The changing boundaries of interpersonal relationships also means a new moral self and the creation of a new moral life, and this reconstruction is inseparable from the understanding and support of important others.
Depression as a public problem
The depressive experience of a doctoral student is like a mirror, reflecting the contradictions and conflicts between the individual's inner world and external moral norms, not only as an individual experience, but also as a social narrative. In interviews and in the process of trying to enter into these experiences again and again, we feel that the suffering experienced by each respondent is complex and unique, rooted in the common intertwining of personal history and social history, and the path to transcendence and liberation is far from being fully described in words. The causes of depression in Doctoral students are complex, and risk factors in their growth also have an indirect or direct impact on their depression during their PhD. This paper's documented and explanatory understanding of these social sufferings is equally "incomplete", but "academic research has helped to give action to uncover some possibilities" [70].
In the daily understanding of depression problems in PhD students, there is often a tendency to "reverse the cause", that is, to treat depression as the initial and universal cause of their actual predicament and cognitive and behavioral changes, without delving into what exactly caused their depressive symptoms. This tendency to think "inversely" obscures the structural factors that contribute to the depression problems of doctoral students and simplifies the serious consequences of depression problems. One of the possible implications of this exploratory study is to make doctoral students suffering from depression feel that they are not alone, seeing the social and institutional roots of their suffering, and thus retaining the "possibility of self-blame". The study also points to a path to the elimination of depression stigma, that is, to place individuals suffering from depression in their moral environment, to understand the mechanism of depression and the structural and institutional causes of depression from a more social perspective, to replace the stigmatization perspective attributed to individual characteristics, to avoid transforming social and institutional problems into individual problems, and to alleviate the moral pressure on individuals suffering from depression.
The problem of depression in doctoral students has important early warning significance for the doctoral training system and academic culture. Attention to the mental health of PhD students requires an understanding of their moral situation, not to stop at pathology, but to face up to the high risk of depression and the deep suffering caused by "normal" moral experience. "Symptoms are not just an expression of discomfort in an individual, but can also become a legitimate language for collective discomfort." [23] Doctoral students are both in an era of "social time acceleration"[73] and in their quest for development in an academic field that emphasizes performanceism and utilitarianism, which poses a particular challenge for them to lead a moral life. For colleges and universities, the prevention and intervention of doctoral students' depression risk needs to understand their moral situation, break through the cultivation and evaluation system that is not conducive to concentrated research and blind pursuit of the number of results, reshape the "qualitative time" and healthy academic culture, and provide relaxed and supportive academic soil for the academic innovation of doctoral students.
In addition, the physical and mental health problems of doctoral students do not exist in isolation, and are closely related to the "inner volume ecology" of ivory tower university students[74] and the growing "occupational load" and "physical and mental health crisis" of higher education teachers [75]. Compared with intervention, colleges and universities need to pay more attention to the prevention of depression risk, not only stay in the bottom line thinking logic of "don't have an accident"8, but should systematically promote the construction of systems, cultures and resource platforms conducive to the physical and mental health of doctoral students, fully apply various group prevention and intervention models such as doctoral dissertation mutual aid groups and doctoral emotional workshops, and accelerate the construction of a friendly, professional and timely mental health support and service system. While popularizing the common sense of mental health, including depression, it is necessary to pay attention to the public and social nature of depression, break the stigmatized imagination of depression, so that everyone can bravely voice the voice of help when they encounter mental distress, and also have the ability to provide appropriate help for individuals in mental pain. Only by maintaining a healthy physical and mental state can doctoral students better undertake academic careers.
References and notes are omitted.
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