The recent article by Nguyen in AMSJ Vol 2, Issue 1 [1] raises several interesting points for discussion regarding the mental health of medical students.
In recent years, the mental well-being of medical students has received increasing publicity and coverage. This was previously a somewhat taboo topic within the medical community, but it has transitioned to become an issue that is now widely discussed and debated amongst students, faculty and the wider medical community. The outcome has been fruitful with a multitude of new initiatives highlighting the importance of mental health in health professionals. Nevertheless, there continues to be a worrying disparity in the prevalence of mental illness between medical students and the wider Australian population.
Nguyen outlined key factors that could contribute to this problem, including the fact that the medical course inflicts on students immense stressors including an overwhelming workload, rigorous examinations and lofty aspirations. [2,3] There is no doubt that this places an increasing burden on medical students. However, it must also be acknowledged that medical students generally have limited constructive coping strategies to deal with such stressors in the first place. Consequently, this may lead to a downward spiral involving concomitant behavioural problems; for example, excessive alcohol intake and the use of recreational drugs. [4]