Comments on: Negative attitude in medical students towards patients with Mental Illness

By: Pharmacy students also have a negative attitude towards mental health patients | Dr Shock MD PhD

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:35:04 +0000

[...] health patients. These results were in line with the results of a previous published study with medical students: ingrained prejudices and misinformation is the rule. Mental health patients are [...]

By: Robert Dixon

Robert Dixon — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:04:43 +0000

Well we were thinking of small group tutorials using autobiographical sources to discuss, we did put references for some of our suggested texts in the discussion section of the paper. Further research into the current small group teaching and the negative attitudes this can develop has recently been undertaken by another one of the authors of this study. Another source could be special studies modules looking into mental illness in the arts which we are currently running at Birmingham Medical School. I do understand that the latter measures will most likely appeal to those with a specific interest and may be preaching to the converted but as the study showed an interest in psychiatry does guarantee a lack of negative attitudes towards mental illness. I hope this helps answer your questions a bit, good luck with your paper I’m sure you’ll get it done in the end!!

By: Dr Shock

Dr Shock — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:54:08 +0000

Excellent suggestion, but how can we integrate this into the medical curriculum? Hope you will continue the research, busy on a paper for at least a year now if that is of any consolation. Kind regards Dr Shock

By: Robert Dixon

Robert Dixon — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:11:18 +0000

Hi I wrote the paper actually and we did specifically look into the effect of furthering education on medical students attitudes towards mental illness. To our suprise we found no difference in the opinions of those who had and had not completed their psychiatry and general practice blocks respectively. We also inquired (anonymously) if people had personal experience of mental illness. Its from this we found that personal experience of mental illness did lead to a more positive and emepathetic approach to those suffering with mental illness and thus our suggestion to try and recreate this experience in the teaching environment to change the way medical students are currently being taught. I hope this is of interest to you glad you liked the paper it took me ages to write so its really nice people are talking about it!!

By: NurseExec

NurseExec — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:29:16 +0000

As a nurse who has had bipolar disease since puberty, I’ve experienced this sort of discrimination throughout my life. It can be extremely frustrating. I’m not surprised by this study, considering the widespread stigma against mental illness of any kind. Great post. BTW, I’m adding you to my reader–great blog.

By: Medical Students on Mental Illness « Medliorate

Medical Students on Mental Illness « Medliorate — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:00:18 +0000

[...] Negative attitude in medical students towards patients with Mental Illness [Neurostimulating Blog] [...]

By: sara

sara — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:15:03 +0000

Medical environments seem to me to have more stigma and contempt than the general public. I’ve been on both ends.

By: Dr Shock

Dr Shock — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:23:06 +0000

My experience is that physicians with experience with mental illness in their direct environment (relatives, parents)are interested in mental illness and are emphatic towards these patients most of the time. For the others my experience is not very positive. On ER and other wards these patients are considered a burden taking to much time and are problematic.

By: dragonfly

dragonfly — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:11:26 +0000

Would some of these beliefs be those of people who just haven’t had much exposure to the mentally ill? Many people in the community have negative attitudes.
Hopefully by the end of medical school this ignorance has gone for students once they have done psychiatry placements and general practice and been exposed to people with mental illness in all areas of medicine. Not to mention the high burden of medical students who have mental illness (typically anxiety and depression)….(or issues with substances, typically alcohol, but sometimes others, caffeine perhaps??)

By: Grote Visite 1.5 (Dutch Grand Round) « Laika’s MedLibLog

Grote Visite 1.5 (Dutch Grand Round) « Laika’s MedLibLog — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:49:38 +0000

[...] By the way, Dr Shock has many other recent interesting posts as well and has an international reputation as medical blogger. For instance Pallimed hosting this week Grand Round refers to dr Shock as follows: Dr. Shock consistently comes up with some very interesting journal articles. I really appreciated his take on impact of medical student biases towards patients with mental illness. So you may read t… [...]