A clinical psychologist told me that continuing was making me clinically unwell and that no PhD w…
T=0: The Decision
Year 4 of a funded computational chemistry PhD at Cambridge. My supervisor had been systematically dismissing my work for two years, denying authorship on a paper I had led, and telling me in meetings that I was "not cut out for research." My mental health collapsed by Christmas 2021. I was attending therapy twice a week and still could not make myself go into the lab.
A clinical psychologist told me that continuing was making me clinically unwell and that no PhD was worth that. I submitted my resignation in February. I was earning £17,668/year stipend. I had no plan.
A job that uses my skills without destroying me. Earning more than a PhD stipend, which was not a high bar.
6 Months Out
Spent the first two months in treatment for depression. Then started applying for jobs with "incomplete PhD" as my highest qualification. The shame was significant. But I was sleeping through the night for the first time in two years.
“Be honest about why you left. Interviewers appreciate "I left for mental health reasons" more than evasion. It is not the weakness it feels like from inside academia.”