Please help :wants to quit

[chand7]

A friend of mine has finished 1 and 1/2 months of internship.she is having a very very tough time,she feels stressed out and is losing weight ,becoming depressed and kind of having personality changes ,but this is only and only when she works ,when she gets 1-2 days off she is a different person,she says working conditions are ok/nice,but she says she just cant hack it,She is doin int med .She feels that for her sake and her pts(coz she feels she is not doing a justifiable/good job)that she should just leave now,or after giving it around 2-3 months.Because she feel sick all the time,feels like crying if she cant handle something.but she feels this only when she works ,otherwise she is really normal,I know this coz I spend alot of my free time with her.

I have a few q
1. What happens if she talks to the PD say in 2-3 months if she doesnt feel better?

2 what do you think she can do ,now that she has finished only 3 moths of internship,what can she do with that?any suggestions for a god career change

3.Or do you have any suggestions of what she can do for feeling that ?

4.i dont think she has a ,you know ,a mental illness that needs psychiatric help,because she is normal when she doesnt have work.


Please help me ,help her,coz she has only confessed to me about this and I really want to help her.

ps:I dont think she will hurt herself,she is more responsible than that,She will leave before anything happens.

Thanx in Advance

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[Gfunk6]

Get an appointment to see a mental health professional immediately.

 

[Faebinder]

As above.. make an appointment with a psychiatrist clinic IMMEDIATELY.... this could be situational and should never be ignored and a psychiatrist will help immensely..

 

[mig26x]

seek medical help inmediately.

 

[GwinnettPreMed]

As above.. make an appointment with a psychiatrist clinic IMMEDIATELY.... this is could be situational and should never be ignored and a psychiatrist will help immensely..

This seems reasonable to me. A psychiatrist, especially, will have been through residency and may be able to relate. Don't know enough about psychologists' training to comment. Does her health insurance offer an Employee Assistance Plan? Could be low-cost.

 

[bulgethetwine]

This seems reasonable to me. A psychiatrist, especially, will have been through residency and may be able to relate. Don't know enough about psychologists' training to comment. Does her health insurance offer an Employee Assistance Plan? Could be low-cost.

I would have her talk to her GME (graduate medical education) office -- they will likely have someone from the psychiatry side that they work with who can meet with residents for exactly this type of issue without her having to wait for an appointment, etc.

I would also say this: MANY interns have "extreme syndrome" during the first few weeks/months; that is, they think they are either "superstars" and are, in fact, very average, or, as I suspect maybe your friend has, they think they are absolutely overwhelmed -- and get discouraged, depressed, and have problems with fear of failure -- when, in fact, they are just as "very average" as most every other intern. For this reason, I suggest she talk to her program director as soon as possible. She is likely to gain some insight into both her performance and her role (hopefully reassuring her and consequently ratcheting down the anxiety level). If things really are as bad as she says, the PD might be able to intervene early -- both for your friends's sake as well as the patients she is seeing.

Good luck to her.

 

[Annette]

A friend of mine has finished 1 and 1/2 months of internship.she is having a very very tough time,she feels stressed out and is losing weight ,becoming depressed and kind of having personality changes ,but this is only and only when she works ,when she gets 1-2 days off she is a different person,she says working conditions are ok/nice,but she says she just cant hack it,She is doin int med .She feels that for her sake and her pts(coz she feels she is not doing a justifiable/good job)that she should just leave now,or after giving it around 2-3 months.Because she feel sick all the time,feels like crying if she cant handle something.but she feels this only when she works ,otherwise she is really normal,I know this coz I spend alot of my free time with her.

What your friend is going through is absolutely a normal response to an insane situation. That being said, she should get an appointment with a psychiatrist (MD or DO) asap.

Internship is a horrible experience. Interns are EXPECTED to screw up. There are systems inplace to catch as most problems as possible. If people were perfect performers clinically (which your friend may see as being what is required of her), we wouldn't need to go through internship and residency. Doctors just happen to be human beings flooded with too much information and too much responsibility. Most interns develop confidence in being an intern, usually at the end of the year when they are "ready" to be seniors.

Have your friend talk with her chief resident and her seniors. If they are being honest, they too will reveal that they had horrible experiences as interns. Common wisdom is that most people will have killed a patient by the end of their residency because of a mistake or a missed diagnosis. While very unfortunately, and certainly against intentions, it happens.

If she thinks internal medicine is the problem, she if she can rearrange her rotations so she can see more of other specialties. A number of interns I know chose to leave internal medicine for emergency medicine. It can be fairly easily done.

Another more pedestrian issue is what will she do with her student loans? Can she afford to walk away from medicine completely? If she finishes her internship, she will be able to be licensed in a number of states, allowing her greater choice in different careers outside of medicine.

Good luck to you and your friend whatever she decides to do.