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[haresparebear]

answered, thanks!

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[LunaOri]

Please don’t worry. This will not affect your ability to get a residency position, become licensed, or practice medicine.

 

[Moko]

I'm sure that I'm just being too nervous about this, but I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a few years ago. I was given a SSRI for it at the time, but I got off it once I graduated and had fewer stressors. Since I've been admitted to medical schools, I'm planning on starting them back up.

From what I hear, it sounds like a lot of med students and residents are on SSRIs anyways, but I've been wondering what disclosure looks like for me here on out. I can handle my anxiety well now and know it will not impair my work as a physician, but how will having a mental health disorder affect my opportunities?

I know I did not need to disclose this to med schools, but will I need to disclose this to residency programs? To hospitals? I'm most worried about medical licensure but it looks like I would be able to answer "no" for most states because they seem to look for disorders "that will affect practice as a physician". I know super it's far out consider this all, but I want to ask before taking out a ton of loans and getting burned in 4.5 years. (aka I found this link Physician-Friendly States for Mental Health: A Review of Medical Boards - Pamela Wible MD and got anxious 😭).

As your link says, most states will not even know that you have a mental health condition as you can safely mark "no" to their screening questions. If you do want to practice in one of the Grade F states, you will likely need to jump through some additional hoops, e.g., submit documentation from your psychiatrist attesting to your ability to safely practice medicine and/or interviews with the board, etc. Worst case scenario, you get another reason to leave Alaska (too wet) or Florida (also too wet).

So long story short, if you need treatment to stay and do well, get treated! You are at a much higher risk of not practicing medicine because you dropped out due to untreated mental health condition(s) rather than credentialing issues with your hospital or state. Just my thoughts.