Distress precipitated by psychiatric training among medical students.

The author found that, for 35 (22%) of the 159 medical students who sought consultation with her in a medical school mental health service, their training in psychiatry precipitated the consultation. For 18 of these 35 students, acute anxiety or depression was the problem, and 17 were motivated to explore psychotherapy in response to psychiatric courses and clerkships. The author discusses the causes of conflicts engendered by psychiatric teaching: acute symptoms result from a transitory imbalance in the development of the student's identification with both patient and physician. Recognition of this dual identification can heighten psychiatric teachers' sensitivity to the problems that medical students may experience during psychiatric training.