Prevalence and risk factors associated with mental health disorders among medical students

Abstract

The mental health care of medical students is a complex process influenced by various innate or personal characteristics of the student, stressors related to medical training, social, economic, demographic and many other factors. Therefore, it is important to identify both the prevalence and the main risk factors that can trigger mental disorders in medical students, such as stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, suicide, among others. Specifically in these students, the prevalence of depression ranges between 2.9% and 38.2% respectively; likewise, exhaustion ("burnout") prevails in 28-45% of them. Most students do not seek the necessary support to solve such problems, which leads to serious consequences, such as the abuse of substances harmful to health, in addition to environments, situations or actions that lead to mental destabilization. The following paper is a review that emphasizes the prevalence and risk factors that can trigger these mental disorders, in order to make an early detection and timely intervention, such as attending psychiatric therapy and/or receiving support from the educational system itself.