Confessions of a depressed mind
BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0609340 (Published 01 September 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:0609340
For medical students to overcome depression may mean coping with the darkness, hopelessness and sadness while hiding the illness from a sceptical medical profession
We laugh about the patient who jumped off a building because she thought she could fly. We share stories about the bizarre voices and delusions that our patients try passionately to convince us are real. But do we stop to think about how mental illness is probably far closer to home than we're comfortable with?
Patients' lives seem a million miles away from our comfortable lives as students, yet as prospective doctors we badly need to begin to understand psychiatry from a patient's point of view. How else can we appreciate the mystery of an invisible disease that destroys people's lives?
It is not a joke. It is not made up, selfish, or attention seeking. It is the manifestation of an unwell mind, and we need to listen and learn.
Carer turned patient
I am a medical student, but I am also a patient. For the past one year I've been battling mental illness while studying, and I wish it was better understood by my peers.
There's a secret shame to being a medical student with depression. You don't want to be labelled as a crazy woman, as mental, or as lazy, so you try and hide it all, embarrassed at the diagnosis and yearning to be better and become the strong and contented doctor you want to be.
It's …
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