One third of world's medical students experience depression, few seek treatment
Posted
Almost a third of medical students suffer from depression, while one tenth reported suicidal ideation during university, new research suggests.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed 200 previous studies looking at the mental health of 129,000 medical students from 47 countries.
It found that 27 per cent of medical students had experienced depression, while 11 per cent reported suicidal ideation during medical school, and only 16 per cent sought treatment.
Dr Dov Degen was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was in his second year of medical school.
"I thought I was Jesus at some stages," he said.
"I was clearly not myself, and yet even within a medical framework and amongst a medical community I was still unable to access resources.
"There was no one in particular that I could talk to. The medical world was unable to support me with that episode unfortunately."
Dr Degen is now a successful doctor and he is not surprised that experiences like his are shared by medical students around the world.
"Undoubtedly there are lots of stresses that face medical students," he said.
"There's work stresses, there's the pressure to succeed, a lot of us are type-A personalities by nature, that's often what draws us to the profession, we're perfectionists.
"All of those things along with competition from peers, lack of resources, high expectations from family and friends and from ourselves all culminate in personal stress."
'I could tell you stories that are absolutely horrifying'
The study backs up Australian research showing a quarter of medical students show signs of depression, while more than half believe there is a stigma around mental illness.
Dr Degen said that stigma starts in medical school and continues in the profession.
"I have often been privy to disparaging remarks that medical colleagues make about medical inpatients with psychiatric issues and the way that they are treated is not the same as patients with traditional organic problems.
"I could tell you stories that are absolutely horrifying. So I think all that has to start from a basis of medical school.
"We need to insert into the curriculum awareness about mental health, it needs to be OK to discuss mental health."
Dr Christopher Wright, academic director of clinical programs at Monash University, said a lot of work is being done to change the stigma.
"The universities and the students are kind of growing together in this — the students in an ability to recognise it's OK to talk about, and universities in recognising that this problem isn't going away and that it's going to be important to continue to listen and continue to put resources into it," he said.
He is calling for more research into mental health during the transition from student to doctor.
"We're not sure of the direct linkages between mental health as a medical student and mental health as a doctor.
"Everybody would suspect that they're probably linked but we haven't got really good data on that yet."
If you or anyone you know needs help, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Topics: doctors-and-medical-professionals, health, mental-health, australia
