{"id":13181,"date":"2015-09-23T09:17:20","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T13:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=13181"},"modified":"2015-09-23T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T13:17:20","slug":"opening-up-about-stress-in-graduate-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/opening-up-about-stress-in-graduate-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemistry Students Uknight to Combat Graduate Level Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Graduate<\/a><\/p>\n

Like many graduate students, Karen Chiang entered her Ph.D. program full of enthusiasm, and she looked forward to earning her scientific wings.<\/p>\n

But instead, graduate school became associated with some of the lowest points in her life, because of the overwhelming stress and self-doubt she experienced. \u201cI had a very difficult time seeing myself in a positive light,\u201d says Chiang, who recently earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and is now teaching at a liberal arts college and working as an adjunct for a community college in San Diego. Although Chiang was never diagnosed as being depressed, she acknowledges that she likely was.<\/p>\n

Chiang is not alone. According to a 2011 survey by the nonprofit group Grad Resources, 43% of U.S. graduate students who participated reported experiencing more stress than they could handle. Stress continues to be one of the biggest mental health issues that graduate students face, and although attempts have been made to mitigate the problem, the issue of stress largely flies under the radar, quieted by the unrelenting pressure to publish. The stress can cause some graduate students to contemplate leaving their Ph.D. programs. \u201cThere were at least two times when I seriously considered dropping out of graduate school,\u201d says Cheri Ackerman, a chemistry graduate student at UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n

For Casey Schwarz, who is now a postdoc at the University of Central Florida (UCF), stress interfered with her ability to sleep.<\/p>\n

The pressures of graduate school are often magnified for international students. Not only are they acclimating to a new culture, but taking time off to return home for a visit is nearly impossible. \u201cI can take vacation for two or three days here and there, but going back to India is not possible in two or three days,\u201d says Rashi Sharma, who came to the U.S. four years ago and is now a graduate student at UCF.<\/p>\n

Schwarz found healing through therapy, although she admits that she felt self-conscious to be seen entering and leaving the counseling building. \u201cIt was embarrassing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Therapy often comes with a stigma. \u201cMy experience here has been that when I gently encourage a friend to go to therapy, it will be months or years before they will do it,\u201d says Ackerman, who has gone to therapy herself. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re screwed up; it just means that you need a little help, and that\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

At UCF, Schwarz and her peers formed the Uknighted Chemistry Graduate Student Association <\/a>this past January to provide a more supportive community for graduate students. \u201cYou go into the black hole that\u2019s your lab, and you stay there,\u201d says Julie Donnelly, a third-year chemistry graduate student and president of the association. \u201cWe thought if we formed this association, it would bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwarz says learning how to manage her stress in graduate school has made her much better prepared to deal with stressful situations in the future\u2014and she sleeps much better these days. \u201cThe skills I learned from counseling and from being more involved in groups and talking to more people is a life changer for me,\u201d she says. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m pretty proud of the way I can handle most stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read original story click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many graduate students, Karen Chiang entered her Ph.D. program full of enthusiasm, and she looked forward to earning her scientific wings. But instead, graduate school became associated with some of the lowest points in her life, because of the overwhelming stress and self-doubt she experienced. \u201cI had a very difficult time seeing myself in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":13184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35,38,4,40,13,29],"tags":[571,629,736,1166,1473,1883,2823,3457],"class_list":["post-13181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry-departments","category-breaking-news","category-departments","category-graduate-student-news","category-news","category-ucf-news","tag-casey-schwarz","tag-chemistry","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-engineering","tag-graduate-school","tag-julie-donnelly","tag-rashi-sharma","tag-ucf"],"yoast_head":"\nChemistry Students Uknight to Combat Graduate Level Stress - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/opening-up-about-stress-in-graduate-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chemistry Students Uknight to Combat Graduate Level Stress - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like many graduate students, Karen Chiang entered her Ph.D. program full of enthusiasm, and she looked forward to earning her scientific wings. 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