Mental hell

This just confirms what every young person in academia knows: gotta get on uppers to be competitive.

My partner is a PhD candidate and at a recent party a postdoc was telling us how he acquired a giant crack rock at the beginning of his grad career and whenever he needed to finish a big assignment or something he would lick it.

This definitely seems like the more likely explanation. There certainly is a mental/emotional hell you go through in academia, but with this y-axis being specifically about psychiatric medication... all I'm seeing is that grad students like/need Adderall.
- .
- I was thinking more antidepressants and less Adderall
Are doctorate/grad school programs distinctly competitive? My impression was that they were more challenging but similar in nature to undergrad insofar as loads of coursework to stay on top of to complete courses and ensure you got some of the most expensive, "You endured it!" paperwork in the world.
- I agree with other replies here with one addition. People who get into grad school are generally the high achievers from their high school and undergrad programs, so they are used to being the only or one of few star students. In PhD programs everyone is a star student, so it can be a bit jarring to folks used to being head of the class when they suddenly aren't.
  
  It can cause a bit of jealousy and competitive thinking but most of the time students get past it and focus simply on enduring the gauntlet.
- Getting a. PhD isn’t super competitive (speaking from the US), but if you aim to get a professorship at an R1 it’s somewhat competitive across the board. The program coursework vs undergrad depends on the program too— I would say most differ somewhat substantially though. For most humanities degrees you’re doing coursework for 2-3 years and teaching undergrads while you prepare for qualifying exams, then you teach and write your thesis for a few more. The graduate courses are often in seminar (circle discussion) format rather than lecture.
- Definitely not the same, at least in my experience. It differs by field, but in my field, grad programs basically have zero classes, and whatever classes there are are generally automatic A's. In turn, the difficulty comes from the fact that you are basically in indentured servitude to your advisor, and there is no actual recourse for trivial things like "overwork" and "burnout."
  
  I know of people who did 70 hour work weeks, and for a period of time, I had to do that as well. Also, you get paid less than you would if you had just gotten a 40 hour per week job at a company.
  
  Anyways, the advisor that you pick really makes or breaks your experience.
- Depends on the program. Diploma mills for graduate degrees absolutely exist but many are extremely competitive.

It's fucking terrible. I was on something by year 2..

Having a PhD is awesome. Getting one is awful.

Is the paper itself product of a PhD study?

And they only managed to finish because of all the meds.

Sometimes you are forced to change the subject part way through a PhD, and this subject was already on the author's mind.

Permanently Deleted

Stuck on peak, please send rescue.
I went the route of substance desensitisation and copious amounts of self delusion. I am doing super fine 🌈

The alcohol is actually so good because not only it makes you happier for a time but also makes you dumber

Being dumb is being happy.

Not true

I am both dumb and unhappy
- Well some people win the lottery. :p
Ignorance is bliss
You can be dumb as rocks and still get a PhD. I've worked with some special "doctors".

It's difficult to know if this might just be a correlation to age of onset, plus the effect of new project or work. Maybe other graduates of similar careers (i.e. chemists going into big pharma) that doesn't go into PhD programmes would be a nice control. But there's no curve there.

Alas, I know academia is difficult. But I wouldn't dare drawing conclusions without a proper comparison.

I completed my chemistry PhD with the sole purpose of landing a job in big pharma (which I did). The curve is accurate with regard to my experience
Maybe it's Sweden?
- Stockholm syndrome?

I'm staring at a PhD and genuinely considering it. I already have an M.S. and that was brutal. But my career stalled and nobody is hiring. Plus I hate myself. Should I do it?

I just want to do a cool project. I have no interest in academia, lol.

If it sounds interesting and other things just don’t I say go for it if you can get a funded position. Definitely ask other students before choosing an advisor so that you don’t get someone who is completely unavailable or a dick
What's your field? People love talking shit about getting a PhD and that they're pointless, but in some fields they're essential for career growth.

Source: got MSc, got job, saw that career would be hampered by not having PhD. Went back and got PhD, got great job, huge salary increases on the horizon
- What field is that in ?
- Geology. A PhD is unnecessary unless you want to work in academia (bleh) or for the USGS, which is prestigious but hard to get into even with a PhD. So I've heard. There likely would be no appreciable salary increase and in fact would fall into the "overqualified" trap. Master's is the standard level employers desire.
  
  I'm unemployed and bummed about it and looking at the PhD because having a project like that sounds awesome.
In case this isn’t a joke, no lmao