Common Grad Student Mental Health Challenges

At UMD Physics, the Graduate Student Mental Health Task Force (MHTF) studies and tries to destigmatize mental health issues in the UMD Physics department. Over the past several years, the MHTF has administered several surveys to UMD physics graduate students and used the data to identify some common challenges.

Impostor Phenomenon (IP). IP is a psychological phenomenon in which a person believes they have tricked others into thinking they are smarter or more capable than they really are. Some things to know about IP:

• The MHTF has surveyed IP in UMD physics grad students using the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale [6, 7], which categorizes the severity of self-reported IP feelings into the categories "mild", "moderate", "frequent", and "intense." 50-70% of survey respondents have reported “frequent” or “intense” feelings of IP over four survey years. This is a higher level than many other academic populations that have been surveyed.
• People who suffer from IP are generally successful, competent people! But they misattribute their successes by connecting them only to factors such as luck, rather than also considering their own abilities and training. Combined with a tendency to also focus too much on their failures, this pattern of misattribution results in a negative self-image [5, 8].
• Some people talk about the "impostor cycle" [8] as a model for the underlying psychological dynamics of IP.
• To reconcile others’ positive views of them with their own negative self-perceptions, people experiencing IP come to believe they have tricked others into believing in their competency.
• Ameliorating IP involves countering the underlying self-doubts and negative narratives with statements about the student’s competence and honest, constructive feedback.

Loneliness and isolation. The grad student experience is isolating in many different ways. Some students report having a challenging time making friends both at and outside work, especially when research can be time-consuming. Others report isolating experiences relating to their identity as members of groups that are underrepresented in physics. Loneliness has several negative effects: it is correlated with anxiety and depression; it can make it easier for students to enter the "impostor cycle" and have impostor feelings; and it can make it harder for students to see the value in their research work.

Burnout. Grad school represents a continuous stream of things we can do, and that can overwhelm grad students, especially if they do not have effective time management skills and realistic expectations. Overworking then leads to burnout, which makes us less productive, makes us enjoy our work less, and makes every task (no matter how small) a struggle.

Challenges associated with identity. Consistently, grad students of underrepresented genders (e.g. female and nonbinary) in our department report higher levels of IP, depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as lower feelings of departmental support than male grad students.

Worsening mental health in middle and later stages of the program. Students who have been in the program longer report higher levels of anxiety and depression. Many of the challenges of grad school become more serious in the middle and later stages of the program: a grad student is no longer in classes, they are expected to do work on more difficult and more creative levels, and more is asked of them due to their greater experience.

Thoughts for Grad Students, from Grad Students

The MHTF wants to say a few things to grad students:

• Graduate school is hard! By "hard" we don't only mean that you're expected to do a number of difficult things; we also mean that doing those difficult tasks sometimes involves things outside of your control. Sometimes something in your lab just breaks; sometimes other members of the group don't do their job or have their own struggles; sometimes expectations among group members are unclear or mismatched; sometimes fellowship and job applications are up to chance. And other times, all the lab components work, your group as a whole is performing well, and you nail that job application. We encourage grad students to not be discouraged by failure in the course of your graduate education, but to reflect and learn from it when you can; we also encourage grad students to celebrate their successes with others and make those successes even sweeter.
• You are not alone in your struggles. Both the data collected by the MHTF and personal experience show that mental health challenges are pervasive in our department and in many graduate programs across the world. While each person's experience of mental health challenges is unique, some aspects, such as the underlying causes, are similar, and talking with others can help us realize those causes, help remind us that our experiences are not in vacuum, and give us some perspective into how to overcome the issue.
• Finding community is crucial to your success and happiness. When you are struggling, we encourage you to find friends and loved ones to talk to. When you are successful, we encourage you to find friends and loved ones to celebrate with. Friends and loved ones help you keep a level head through the tumultuous times of grad school, help you see the value of your work, and remind you of what's important to you.

In our surveys, we often ask students what they feel helps their mental health. We get a wide variety of responses, including:

• Friends, family, and loved ones. Relationships with others can provide a sense of life outside of work and a place to express emotions and distress. This includes regular opportunities to socialize with work colleagues.
• Pride in academic accomplishments. Grad students particularly express pride in publishing their work and going to conferences to present and network. These are opportunities for external feedback that can help grad students believe in the importance of their work and help them understand what research directions are less or more interesting.
• Daily exercise. Many students find that daily walks, runs, biking, or going to the gym helps their mental health, an experience aligned with the consensus of medical studies.

What Can Faculty Do for Grad Students?

For faculty who advise and mentor grad students, we encourage you to be proactive and compassionate in your advising. This can look like a few different things. For example:

• Know the resources. When a student is having a mental health difficulty, the single most effective thing a faculty member can do is know what resources are available to help. This webpage is meant to be a one-stop shop for all of those resources, including the Assisting Students in Distress handout link at the top and the list of resources below.
• Raise your own awareness. Mental health awareness is a skill like any other. To build that skill, we can seek resources, training, and literature to improve our awareness of mental health issues. The Counseling Center maintains a page of useful information for faculty and staff, and UMD regularly offers the Mental Health First Aid course.
• Be communicative. In the absence of guidance and communication, students will create their own narratives on every topic, including the importance of their research, whether they are meeting expectations as a graduate student, and whether they have the ability to do their work, in class or in research. These constructed narratives won’t always be healthy or rational. Faculty should actively seek regular, honest, and healthy dialogue with their students.
• Encourage work-life balance. We all need time away from our work. This helps us recharge and feel complete as individuals. In addition, many physicists find that spending time away from a hard problem can help us figure it out when we return to it.
• Don’t feel like you need to be a therapist! While student mental health can seem like a daunting subject to discuss, please remember there are people trained to discuss mental health concerns with students. Especially if it seems that mental health issues are interfering with a student's daily work, consider suggesting the student see a therapist.

Contact the Mental Health Task Force

The Mental Health Task Force are happy to hear about any mental-health-related topics or questions from any and all members of the department! The easiest way to contact us is to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..