"When people pick an academic advisor and join a lab, they are picking not just a teacher, but a mentor. A person who will instruct them not only in the specifics of their chosen field, but also in how to look at research as a whole, how to build relationships in academia, how to react to failures, when to persevere and when to give up on a question, and also, if not directly then indirectly, how to structure their life outside of work."
"For this reason, if I were in a position to give mental health advice to students still in the process of picking their advisors, I would strongly encourage everyone to look at how well-adjusted potential advisors seem in addition to their publication record. Of course, this is often impractical. Many students don't truly get a choice, and if they do, they often don't find out how professors are as people until it is too late. Thus, students often end up being mentored by advisors who actively encourage behaviors and ways of thinking that are detrimental to emotional well-being."
Academic advisors serve as mentors who shape research approaches, professional relationships, responses to failure, persistence decisions, and life structure outside work. Advisor behavior directly influences graduate students' mental health and daily habits. Students who idealize advisors face increased risk of adopting unhealthy behaviors modeled by those advisors. Prospective students should, when possible, assess potential advisors' personal adjustment alongside academic metrics. Many students lack true choice or only learn advisors' personal traits after joining, which can result in mentorship that promotes detrimental behaviors and thinking patterns. Negative effects of poor mentorship can be mitigated with appropriate strategies.
Read at Psychology Today
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