Medical Students Struggle With Depression and Suicidal Thoughts

By Vanessa Francisco, | December 08, 2016

According to the researchers, depression is an open secret in the medical field.  Sander van der Wel/CC BY-SA 2.0)

According to the researchers, depression is an open secret in the medical field. Sander van der Wel/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Many medical students from different parts of the world struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts, according to a recent study. A new research has revealed that over a quarter of medical students from 47 countries have reported symptoms of depression and about one in 10 had suicidal thoughts.

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Researchers examined studies from January 1963 to September 2015 involving over 129,000 medical students in 47 countries. The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the rate of depression among medical students was 27 percent while 11 percent of them experienced suicidal thoughts. Only 16 percent of the students, who tested positive for depression, decided to receive treatment.

According to the researchers, depression is an open secret in the medical field. They claim some people have suffered from depression and attempted suicide while they were still in medical school.

This could be due to the anxiety and stress related to the competitiveness of medical school. The researchers claim that student evaluation and curricula restructuring of medical schools may help alleviate these anxieties and stress. A previous study revealed that said 29 percent of new doctors suffered from depression, prompting the researchers to recommend a study on how it may affect patient care.

"Because the development of depression has been linked to a higher risk of future depressive episodes and greater long-term morbidity, these findings may affect the long-term health of resident doctors. Depression among residents may also affect patients, given established associations between physician depression and lower-quality care," the researchers wrote in their study.

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