Out of curiousity, how many future docs here take anxiety or depression meds?

[spiffycats]

We all try to act all perfect and professional in school, but how many of you here actually take meds for deprewssion or anxiety? I am on anxiety medication and have had a hard time getting classmates to open up about who else may be in the same place as i am. Anyone else here? Mental health is such an important but neglected topic in our world..sadly

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[Newyawk]

We all try to act all perfect and professional in school, but how many of you here actually take meds for deprewssion or anxiety? I am on anxiety medication and have had a hard time getting classmates to open up about who else may be in the same place as i am. Anyone else here? Mental health is such an important but neglected topic in our world..sadly

Fwiw... My PCP advised that i take one at the start of clerkship year bc i was having a lot of somatic symptoms unexplained by many tests but i refused.

 

[gshocke]

I think the better question is, how many students started Med school taking X amount of meds but will be ending taking 2-3 more meds for whatever new condition (does not even have to be mental health related)? or have increased alcohol or drug use?

In summary, how many students can say there overall health has significantly been affected by med school?

 

[mistafab]

Our school just sent out another mental health and wellness survey.

It is a sad reality that many students struggle in medical school with mental health. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a really good time during school and have enjoyed most of what I do. I am not sure what causes so many to struggle.

Is it missing coping behaviors?
Is it inexperience with stressors?
Is it poor self-care habits?
Attitude?
Personality?
Is it just the straw the broke the camel’s back?
Maybe all of the above?

It worries me that someone might not be on a medication before, and has to start one in med school. That tells me that they are sacrificing something in a few departments that they really should not be sacrificing. That is a recipe for burnout. I always look at this and wonder if the burnt-out physicians in all those surveys are the very same people who were not taking care of themselves in med school... and just never changed. Clearly there is a group of physicians who never get burnt out - maybe I’m one of the lucky ones or maybe I just haven’t been put to the fire yet.

Anyway, just pouring thoughts out there. Hope everyone’s doing okay - seek help if you need it.

 

[gshocke]

Our school just sent out another mental health and wellness survey.

It is a sad reality that many students struggle in medical school with mental health. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a really good time during school and have enjoyed most of what I do. I am not sure what causes so many to struggle.

Is it missing coping behaviors?
Is it inexperience with stressors?
Is it poor self-care habits?
Attitude?
Personality?
Is it just the straw the broke the camel’s back?
Maybe all of the above?

It worries me that someone might not be on a medication before, and has to start one in med school. That tells me that they are sacrificing something in a few departments that they really should not be sacrificing. That is a recipe for burnout. I always look at this and wonder if the burnt-out physicians in all those surveys are the very same people who were not taking care of themselves in med school... and just never changed. Clearly there is a group of physicians who never get burnt out - maybe I’m one of the lucky ones or maybe I just haven’t been put to the fire yet.

Anyway, just pouring thoughts out there. Hope everyone’s doing okay - seek help if you need it.

Not to be the one, but.... what’s your class ranking? What’s your race ? Gender? Do you come from a family of professionals? In state vs out of state? Socioeconomic status? Lastly, what specialty are you going into?

Those factors alone exponentially increase the chance of depression in medical school. The myth is that poor mental health has to do with your inner workings (coping skills, attitude, personality etc), but it’s more of your environment and how well you “fit” into that environment when it comes to Med school

 

[gshocke]

Our school just sent out another mental health and wellness survey.

It is a sad reality that many students struggle in medical school with mental health. I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a really good time during school and have enjoyed most of what I do. I am not sure what causes so many to struggle.

Is it missing coping behaviors?
Is it inexperience with stressors?
Is it poor self-care habits?
Attitude?
Personality?
Is it just the straw the broke the camel’s back?
Maybe all of the above?

It worries me that someone might not be on a medication before, and has to start one in med school. That tells me that they are sacrificing something in a few departments that they really should not be sacrificing. That is a recipe for burnout. I always look at this and wonder if the burnt-out physicians in all those surveys are the very same people who were not taking care of themselves in med school... and just never changed. Clearly there is a group of physicians who never get burnt out - maybe I’m one of the lucky ones or maybe I just haven’t been put to the fire yet.

Anyway, just pouring thoughts out there. Hope everyone’s doing okay - seek help if you need it.

And what does “taking care of yourself really mean”? How exactly does one take care of themselves when their resident/attendings are racist, misogynistic, power tripping dinguses? And add that on top of the already stressful nature of needing to perform academically

 

[NicMouse64]

Not to be the one, but.... what’s your class ranking? What’s your race ? Gender? Do you come from a family of professionals? In state vs out of state? Socioeconomic status? Lastly, what specialty are you going into?

Those factors alone exponentially increase the chance of depression in medical school. The myth is that poor mental health has to do with your inner workings (coping skills, attitude, personality etc), but it’s more of your environment and how well you “fit” into that environment when it comes to Med school

got any data to back this up?

 

[gshocke]

got any data to back this up?

Factors associated to depression and anxiety in medical students: a multicenter study

 

[NotaCop]

Not to be the one, but.... what’s your class ranking? What’s your race ? Gender? Do you come from a family of professionals? In state vs out of state? Socioeconomic status? Lastly, what specialty are you going into?

Those factors alone exponentially increase the chance of depression in medical school. The myth is that poor mental health has to do with your inner workings (coping skills, attitude, personality etc), but it’s more of your environment and how well you “fit” into that environment when it comes to Med school

Factors associated to depression and anxiety in medical students: a multicenter study

My gut feeling says your original post likely has some truth to it (socioeconomics) and I agree that extrinsic factors are a much larger component than most people give them credit for, but Christ man learn how to do a literature review. Especially when you’re just doing it after the fact to make it seem like your opinion was an informed one all along... don’t just link a random article.

This study is from Brazil, hence its generalizability to our medical school system is likely poor. It does cite gender, yes, but the only other factors found to be significant were a vague location demographic and scholarship status. Not even close to the shotgun blast of factors you originally mentioned. It does little to support your position and if anything only weakens it as the citation makes you look incompetent.

Cheers!

 

[NicMouse64]

My gut feeling says your original post likely has some truth to it (socioeconomics) and I agree that extrinsic factors are a much larger component than most people give them credit for, but Christ man learn how to do a literature review. Especially when you’re just doing it after the fact to make it seem like your opinion was an informed one all along... don’t just link a random article.

This study is from Brazil, hence its generalizability to our medical school system is likely poor. It does cite gender, yes, but the only other factors found to be significant were a vague location demographic and scholarship status. Not even close to the shotgun blast of factors you originally mentioned. It does little to support your position and if anything only weakens it as the citation makes you look incompetent.

Cheers!

Exactly. Everyone's free to make their judgements. The data he says is a "myth" is well documented. The other factors are unsubstantiated from the literature searches I've done.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

No medications, no drugs, no alcohol for me.

Exercise, stoicism, friends and family, schedules, goal setting, and a healthy dose of humor have kept me together for the most part.

But, boy, does medical school and residency really try you.

 

[girlofgrace7]

Those in the medical field often try to cover up any perceived weaknesses, especially when it comes to mental health. I have struggled intermittently throughout my life with depression and anxiety, but I had always been leery to discuss the issue with my doctor or try medication. Midway through residency (now about three years ago), I started having chronic sleep problems related to anxiety, which made functioning during the day tough, and I just felt like I was always on edge and worried. I finally made the decision to talk to my doctor about medication and started an SSRI. My only regret has been that I didn't seek help sooner. I realized I was making residency and every other area of my life so much harder than they needed to be. It's amazing how much easier life feels (especially during crazy long hours full of stressful experiences) with the weight lifted. Now that I'm in fellowship and have opened up to a few colleagues about being on anxiety medication, I've been surprised to realize how common it is for those in the medical field to be on a mental health medication or in therapy. Especially during med school and residency, many people feel like they're the only one struggling and try hard appear "normal," but the path in medicine is hard and most of your classmates are going through similar struggles.

 

[flapjack3d]

Our student health doc told us that many, if not most, M2's and M3's would benefit from psychotherapy

 

[mehc012]

Med school noticeably improved my mental health, but it also educated me enough on the subject that I realized that I probably should have started taking meds 10-15yrs ago. After my psych rotation, and realizing how many of the Qs we ask patients are ones that I have never had healthy answers to...I'm considering the possibility. So it's not always because med school is bad/stressful, it's also a growing process. The stakes are also higher now; I can't afford the consequences when I do mishandle these things the way I could in high school or college.

 

[Oso]

I take an SSRI for depression and anxiety (and tried/was on a few other meds in the past).

Do what you gotta do to take care of yourself.

 

[Stagg737]

During my M2 year my school implemented a "wellness week", which is one of the few extraneous things with some requirements that I think was actually a good thing. Our school's counselor gave a talk where she said that about 1/3 of my class had come to see either her or our school psychiatrist sometime during M1 year and ~20% of our class had been on medication for some form of mental health issue. There was also a study/survey from a while ago which showed ~27% of med students are depressed and that ~11% of medical students will have suicidal ideation at some point during medical school. Granted, it was a meta-analysis from numerous countries, but I think it still has some relevance especially given the excess pressures placed on students in the US system.

Not to be the one, but.... what’s your class ranking? What’s your race ? Gender? Do you come from a family of professionals? In state vs out of state? Socioeconomic status? Lastly, what specialty are you going into?

Those factors alone exponentially increase the chance of depression in medical school. The myth is that poor mental health has to do with your inner workings (coping skills, attitude, personality etc), but it’s more of your environment and how well you “fit” into that environment when it comes to Med school

I would be careful making statements like this as mental health is multifactorial and attributing depression/anxiety/any mental health illness heavily into intrinsic or extrinsic while disregarding the other is an antiquated thought process. Hopefully whenever you do a psych rotation you'll be introduced to the "biopsychosocial" model, as it's the current standard model that most residencies and psychology programs operate under.

Mental health also has A LOT to do with internal workings, and newer data is actually starting to show that personality disorders (which people have always attributed to how an individual was raised) are far more heavily influenced by genetics than we ever imagined. Environment and situation certainly play a significant role, especially in adjustment disorders, but ignoring the biological and psychological aspects of mental health are basically disregarding the 2 aspects of the diseases which we can actually treat.