Stop bashing psychiatry, royal college urges medical students

Badmouthing of psychiatry by doctors and medical students stigmatises mental ill health and has an impact on medical career choices, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned.

The college is launching a campaign to bolster initiatives to expose the negative effects of “bashing” and badmouthing of psychiatry. The BASH campaign will be led through “psych socs,” which make up the largest single group of student societies in medical schools, said Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

“The current generation of students don’t put up with the things we used to,” Wessely told BMJ Careers. “Derogatory comments about race, sexuality, and gender are not common now, and when they do occur students …