A New Look at Medical Student Mental Health: Exploring its Roots in Pre-Med Culture
Medical school is an exciting time in an aspiring physician’s life, but a somber reality is looming.
Tag: mental health
Pre-Medical Guest Writer
College of New Jersey
Namal Seneviratne is a senior at the College of New Jersey studying biology, English, and public health. He is particularly interested in narrative medicine and mental health and spends his time advocating for mental illness destigmatization through lectures and events on campus. Namal hopes to become a physician and bring his passions to his career.
When We Shouldn’t Aim to Simply Carry On: The Mental Health Stigma Among Asian-Americans
Asian-Americans are often seen as model minorities. We are expected to excel in all areas regardless of our backgrounds creating a high-stress environment with a relative lack of support.
A Curious Case of Iatrogenic Hemineglect
I am writing to share my concern regarding a series of unusual and troubling cases affecting medical professionals across the country. It manifests as a selective form of hemineglect in otherwise neurologically intact individuals.
Shimmering Quotes
Medicine is a sacrifice. I knew this upon admittance into medical school. I did not know the sacrifice would be an erosion of my humanity.
A Slap in the Face Might Just Be Exactly What You Need
Medical school hit me, and I mean it hit me hard. I would describe it as a boulder rolling down a hill straight towards me, multiplied by ten, and that is how scared and unprepared I was for my first few weeks of medical school.
Tackling Mental Health Care
We, as future health care providers, must recognize that patients affected by mental illnesses will need our support and advocacy. We must also understand that some patients might not have the time or financial stability to seek treatment or therapy. Regardless, we should explore other long-term treatment options and strive to make mental health care easily accessible nationally.
Fighting Physician Suicide Takes a Tribe
When I applied for medical school, I knew I was signing up for hard work. I knew I would have to spend countless hours studying, that my sleep cycle might never be the same. But I had not expected this.
Medical School Admission: Patience is a Virtue
While it is clear that the issue of depression and anxiety extends well beyond the medical school admissions process, it is important to ask whether it is the beginning of a long and slippery slope to a life of anxiety and depression.
Adventure #15: Keep it Zen
Most of my articles bear a similar theme: find activity, go on activity, discuss what I learned from the activity and my recommendations for whether or not my readers should pursue said activity. This one is … different.
Leave of Absence: A Gift in Disguise
Tears rushed down my face / like the initial gush of water / spurting from a faucet
The Grind Doesn’t Define You: Giving and Growing in a World of Negativity
It’s ironic that the medical field is arguably the most humane profession, yet we put our residents and physicians-in-training through such pain and suffering.
Adventure #14: Going Through a “Ruff” Time?
I had one last beautiful, golden weekend before starting my OB/GYN rotation. I knew that I had to fit in one more memorable activity before my life became overrun with uteruses (uteri?) and babies.
Columnist
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Neha is a third year MD candidate at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. To combat the cold and snow in Cleveland, Neha spends her time napping, exploring art museums, and taking the local brunch world by storm, one sweet confection at a time. When she has saved up enough money, she plans to go on a world tour and visit every single capital of every single country.
Mind Your Mind
A very important but rarely discussed topic is that of mental health in medical practitioners, notably medical students. According to a study in the Student British Medical Journal, 30% of medical students report having a mental health condition—with a majority of 80% stating the level of available support was poor or only moderately adequate. This column was born from these alarming statistics and aims to stimulate conversation on mental health in medical students, from providing suggestions on how to maintain one’s mental health to discussing the taboo and stigma surrounding conversations on mental health in practitioners/students and how to eliminate it.