Abstract
Background: Research findings suggest that attitudes towards psychotherapy predict willingness to seek therapy. However, understanding how medical students think about using and referring their patients for psychotherapy is limited. Aims: The aims of this study are to measure medical students’ attitudes towards professional help seeking, and to investigate the reasons for whether or not they would refer their patients to psychotherapy in their future role as doctors. Method: The participants were 127 medical students in their first and second year of the MBBS4 programme at the Cyprus campus of St George’s University of London, who completed a self-report measure of attitudes towards psychotherapy and a semi-structured interview. Findings: Participants showed general positive attitudes towards psychotherapy, but were reluctant to use or refer their patients, largely due to perceived stigma and accessibility. Conclusions: Medical students should be further trained in order to become more confident in using psychotherapy and referring their patients.
Highlights
A number of research studies have provided evidence supporting the effectiveness of psychotherapy in the treatment of several mental health disorders
The results showed that medical students were more likely to seek advice from friends and family when faced with a problem, while barriers to seeking professional help were related to issues of confidentiality and cost
What would prevent you from referring a patient for psychotherapy? For the purposes of this paper, we focused on the results that related largely to the reasons why medical students felt positive about psychotherapy, and what they perceived as barriers to seeking professional help
Summary
A number of research studies have provided evidence supporting the effectiveness of psychotherapy in the treatment of several mental health disorders. Some studies suggest that psychotherapy is as effective as psychotropic medication in treating disorders such as depression and anxiety [7]. Attitudes towards psychotherapy seem to influence the willingness of an individual to seek or not seek professional help. Individuals who perceive professional help seeking in a positive respect are more likely to seek mental health treatment than those that have a negative attitude towards it [8,9]. Aims: The aims of this study are to measure medical students’ attitudes towards professional help seeking, and to investigate the reasons for whether or not they would refer their patients to psychotherapy in their future role as doctors. Findings: Participants showed general positive attitudes towards psychotherapy, but were reluctant to use or refer their patients, largely due to perceived stigma and accessibility. Conclusions: Medical students should be further trained in order to become more confident in using psychotherapy and referring their patients
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
