Editor's note: As the old saying goes: If a person drinks water, he knows his own warmth and coldness. The young people who have hit the highest degree doctorate in modern education may have achieved considerable achievements in the eyes of others, and it is enough to prove their ability to go all the way to today. But only they know that in order to gain a foothold and develop in the academic world, there is no end to the problems that need to be solved, and it is almost inevitable to encounter a low point in their academic career and personal life. In the view of psychologist Kwong Hongda, everyone will have a low period, and depression will last for a long time, so it is important not to be afraid to seek support and help, let alone easily label yourself as depressed.
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The academic trough of doctoral students is that I have always been concerned about the problem, and in the process of overcoming difficulties, it is inevitable that there will be times when I am "stuck", and this period is a double test of the mental and physical strength of doctoral students. My PhD advisor often used the phrase "peeling off a layer of skin" to describe the difficult journey of studying for a PhD. The following understanding is based on my own experience of studying for a doctorate, as well as the interaction between me, my fellow students and my visitors (they come from Beili, Guidian, Zhongnong, and online visits to schools such as Beihang University).
Early Low Valley:
Difficulties arise in one or more of the following areas:
- No progress was made;
- It is difficult to write and publish papers;
- Topics;
- economic pressures;
- family or intimate relationship distress;
- Tension in the mentoring relationship (dependence, disagreement in topic selection, chores, misalignment of guidance and expectations, etc.);
- Tensions with fellow students;
- The trauma of growing up is awakened in the process of studying for a PhD;
- I have been doing things other than the graduation thesis to the tutor, the tutor overestimates the student's ability, and the student underestimates the difficulty of graduation;
- Miscellaneous.
These difficulties can lead to a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stress response that manifests itself in:
- Cognitive: Motivation is excessively enhanced, becoming very strong and face-saving, believing that there is always a reward for paying, or the motivation is impaired, thinking that why is so stupid and blaming oneself, gradually not believing in one's own ability, thinking that oneself is a burden or burden, and not daring to discuss academic issues with others for fear of wasting other people's time.
- Emotional: Negative emotions (nervousness, anxiety, depression, etc.) are the majority of daily activities, and positive emotional experiences (satisfaction, happiness, etc.) are gradually reduced. Negative emotional intolerance, poor ability to resist stress, difficulty in restoring balance once emotions fluctuate, and poor flexibility in emotional transition.
- Behavioral: two extremes. Investing more or less time, wanting to stay in the lab 24 hours a day, or not leaving the dormitory at all, getting more and more difficult to move, gradually reducing exercise, reducing social interaction, and not wanting to talk to people, especially familiar people.
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Low valley period:
- Cognitive difficulties: Before entering the trough, work, hard work, and innovation are denied by the outside world, and they enter a state of learned helplessness, and begin to initiate self-aggressive automatic thinking, such as "I'm really useless" and "I'm so bad". If it persists for a long time, it will cause cognitive difficulties, such as stuck, daze, and sluggish thinking. For example, if you can't write something, or you don't want to do it, you don't want to change the manuscript, or you get distracted by the literature, you turn on the computer and open the literature and enter a daze program, and the morning passes again, and you start to feel annoyed.
- Emotional breakdown: Emotional experiences are dominated by feelings of anxiety, depression, and compulsions. Among them, the compulsion is the most insidious and the most stubborn. Compulsive negative thoughts are combined with negative emotions and negative thoughts to create depression. For example, I don't deserve to rest, others are so good and so hard, I don't deserve to rest. Wait. At this time, most of the emotional outbursts are caused by specific realities. For example, the mentor praised the disciple but did not praise him. Even the praise of the mentor is regarded as a conspiracy.
- Sudden reduction of action or mechanical repetition: more and more towards two extremes. Investing more or less time, wanting to stay in the lab 24 hours a day, or not being able to leave the dormitory at all, getting more and more difficult to move around, gradually decreasing exercise, decreased social functioning, reduced social interaction, not wanting to talk to people, especially familiar people, afraid of socializing. These symptoms are more pronounced during troughs.
The trough lasts more than 1 year:
Cognitively, emotionally, and emotionally, severe symptoms of the disease occur.
- Cognitively: Distortions begin to appear, "I have no meaning in living", "It's better to die", meaningless thoughts, suicidal thoughts begin to appear. Fear of difficulties is more severe, and they are unable to work, or they rely on compulsion or compulsion to maintain their work, but it is accompanied by particularly uncomfortable and painful symptoms.
- Emotional: Basically spend every day in pain, anxiety and discomfort, at this moment, there may be no specific stimulus, such as the tutor withdrawing all tasks, but still feel sudden emotional pain and collapse. Depressive episodes.
- Behavioral: Irregular work and rest, severe insomnia, irregular eating, or overeating may occur. Unable to learn to work. Reluctance to go outside, severe loss of appetite, and not even eating for a day. Unable to get out of the dormitory, indulge in short videos on mobile phones or other activities that do not require too much thought to divert painful emotions.
Depression is the core symptom of all presentations. But is depression at a low academic trough the same as depression? Diagnosing depression is a psychiatrist's specialty, and ordinary people can't get it so easily. Ph.D. students often joke, "Am I depressed? If you give me my diploma, I don't have anything." Yes, depression during the academic trough is a cause, which is a very important reference point for judging depression or depression, which is also the reason why some people take medication after seeing a doctor but have little effect. But we should not resist the help of some drugs, and the drugs that the public is worried about will cause dependence, mainly because of looking for psychological counseling to improve negative thinking, problem-solving skills, etc., once they encounter stress, they will relapse. But this misunderstanding cannot be relied on drugs.
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How to deal with it? Focus on prevention, early detection, timely consultation, and not afraid of seeking medical treatment.
- Doctoral students: Run more, improve health literacy, be aware of your own psychological state, do not fall alone, and remind each other with your classmates.
- Ph.D. Supervisor: Understand the physical and mental challenges of innovation and creativity, respect individual differences, and put care into action.
- Family: Provide adequate support to convey the belief that physical and mental health is more important than a degree.
- High schools: provide safe, confidential and convenient knowledge publicity and psychological services to improve students' awareness of seeking help.
- Society: Give doctoral students a more tolerant environment and care for talents.
Bibliography:
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