The students are stressed – but that’s the way it has to be. The dean at the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts says it would be devastating for the students if they felt too well during the course of their education.
The board of directions for the artistic programs are not planning on working to prevent stress among their students.
“This is about peak performance programs demanding that you maintain a very high level of quality. You have to be the best to be hired. That’s why there needs to be a certain level of pressure during the course of the education,” says Solfrid Söderlind. She says that the five years at an artistic academy are meant to be a period of learning how to handle the stress that comes with the professional life. The option, which would be the academy being a sanctuary, would be doing the students a bad turn.
“In this case, I have to be very rigid. We cannot pretend that the stress doesn’t exist and create a really soft environment. It would result in incredibly severe future side effects, in which case you remain with your debt after your studies, which you’ll have to start paying back.
Mothers and students at the same time
What’s more interesting, according to Solfrid Söderlind, is the difference as it pertains to men’s and women’s wellbeing. It’s a social problem that the academy needs to address by supporting the students. Solfrid Söderlind also believes that the slightly higher average age among the students at the faculty brings some stress that seems to affect the women.
“It’s a pattern following a social structure. Several of our students have families and the women become more stressed since they do more work around the house and have to maintain an equal or higher level of quality in their studies,” she says.
Tight competition among students
Karin Engquist has worked as a doctor at the student health organization Studenthälsan for 15 years, especially focusing on students of music. During these years, she has noticed an evident change.
It began with physical pains after having spent hours bending over their instruments, but it resulted in mental problems caused by stress.
During the last couple of years, stress related problems have been the most common reason for students consulting Karin Engquist, which has contributed to the fact that she recently decided to quit, since she is ultimately a general practitioner and not a counselor.
“The tight competition and the need for constant development add up to a lot of anxiety, insomnia and symptoms of stress. It can be anything from physical problems to sheer anxiety, dejection and depression,” she says
The fact that women are the ones worst off does not surprise her. “That situation echoes everywhere”, she says.
“Even in the theoretical programs in Lund, I am mainly consulted by women. Women face bigger challenges, just like in society in general. If the competition increases, or changes take place at work, it’s often the women who are affected by it, and they tend to absorb it differently than most men do.”
Programs with power balance problems
Karin Engquist has noticed what could be improved by the academy. She feels there’s a power balance problem in many programs, a master-student-syndrome that needs to be eliminated in order for the students to feel safe and stimulated.
“Also, the artistic programs would benefit from doing a better job working on follow-ups,” she claims.
“They lack feedback that serves to improve the students’ self-image so that they are able to feel that they’re developing. There are constantly new demands, but students would be helped if they were told what they have done well.
Text: Nina Lind
Translation: Maximilian Aleman Tennell
