Dr Cassie Hazell, Lecturer in Psychology, was featured in an article by Times Higher Education about her new research, which has found that four in 10 PhD students are ‘at high risk of suicide’.
The article outlined Dr Hazell’s new research, which underlines the chronic levels of stress among PhD students. It is the first ever study to ask British doctoral students directly about suicidality, and found that as many as four in 10 PhD students may be at ‘high risk’ of suicide. The study found that loneliness, anxiety about securing a career in academia and the fear of failing intellectually led many PhD students to think about suicide.
According to their research, 40% of the 1,263 respondents met the criteria under the Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire for being at ‘high risk of suicide’, while one in five participants admitted they had a plan to kill themselves, and 8% had attempted suicide at one point.
Dr Hazell told THE that the higher risk rate of suicide among PhD students was “particularly concerning as they often lacked the support offered to undergraduates or university employees.”
She said: “They often fall between two groups because they are technically students, but they don’t have lectures or seminars, and they might be working as staff but are not covered by HR processes in the same way as other employees.”
She added: “There is a real pressure to be perfect, which isn’t helped by the fact we do not talk about how messy and frustrating doing research can be…[There is an] urgent need for universities to acknowledge the presence of suicide risk among doctoral researchers…This is a really serious issue and potentially a life-and-death situation,”.
Read the full article on the Times Higher Education website.
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