Depression in medical students

OBJECTIVE: Medical training is considered a significant stress factor. We sought to assess the prevalence and intensity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in medical students and compare samples of first-year and sixth-year students. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study of first- and sixth-year medical students who attended classes regularly. The study instruments were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)...

CONTEXT: North American medical students are more depressed and anxious than their peers. In the UK, the regulator now has responsibility for medical students, which may potentially increase scrutiny of their health. This may either help or hinder medical students in accessing appropriate care. The prevalences of anxiety, depression and psychological distress in medical students outside North America are not clear. A better understanding of the prevalence of, risk factors for and results of psychological distress will guide the configuration of support services, increasingly available for doctors, for medical students too...

BACKGROUND: Rates of depression among medical students have been shown to be high and related to year of study and other factors. We report on cluster of symptoms related to depression and their association with other difficulties in specific domains. METHODS: 481 (Response rate=79.8%) medical students completed a questionnaire about areas of difficulty in the medical school (studies, leisure, colleagues, professors, and patients), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)...

BACKGROUND: Medical students experience a lot of stress what may contribute to symptoms of depression. In this study we set out to look at the environmental factors which may be contributing in one medical school in Brazil. METHODS: We assessed depressive symptoms using Beck's Depression Inventory in 465 and 267 medical students in 2001 and 2006 respectively. We explored possible social and environmental causes using qualitative data. RESULTS: Nearly 15% scored above the cut off for depression in both the samples...

INTRODUCTION: The direction of the relationships between depression and sexual dissatisfaction is unclear. Possibly, these relationships are influenced by different elements/components of depression represented by different measures (i.e., Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CES-D], which highlights mood, vs. Beck Depression Inventory version II [BDI-II], which focuses on cognition and physical symptoms). High-achieving women--such as female medical students, interns, and residents--might be particularly prone to both depression and sexual dissatisfaction...

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated a higher prevalence of depression among medical students as compared to the general population. On the other hand, psychoeducational interventions have proven its efficacy on diminishing depressive symptoms. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students in La Salle University and the effect that psychoeducation has on it. METHODS: Students between the first and the eighth semester voluntarily answered the Beck Depression Inventory test in an anonymous way from 2006 to 2007...

CONTEXT: There is a concerning prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation among medical students, a group that may experience poor mental health care due to stigmatization. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the perceptions of depressed and nondepressed medical students regarding stigma associated with depression. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional Web-based survey conducted in September-November 2009 among all students enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School (N = 769)...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies revealed that the immune responses of depressed patients can be affected by alteration of immune system factors; however, the immune genes mainly influenced are yet to be fully understood. Therefore, the main aim of present study was to identify serum levels of drastic inflammatory cytokines including IL-17A, IL-12, and IL-6 as well as anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and TGF-beta, amongst Iranian depressed medical students. METHODS: Peripheral blood specimens were collected from 38 Iranian medical student patients with moderate and severe depression along with 43 healthy students as control subjects...