Mental health morbidity among medical students

Abstract

Background: Mental morbidity is a state of mental and emotional discomfort. It often cripples the ability of the person to cope with day-to-day living. The undergraduate medical training is a stressful period and medical students undergo tremendous stress during various stages of the MBBS course. Aims and Objective: To study mental health morbidity among undergraduate medical students using self reporting Questionnaire in a private medical college. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out among 331 MBBS students (178 females and 153 males) in a private medical college. A validated Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used for finding the probable psychiatric morbidity. Results: The study population comprised of 331students and all of them returned the filled questionnaire of which 41 %were females and 59% males. The composition of the study population was (first-year MBBS students, 75; second year MBBS students, 111; third-year MBBS students, 145). There were total 35 students having SRQ score more than 10 meaning that mental health morbidity was 11% (10.57%) among MBBS students. Conclusion: Mental morbidity in medical students calls for early detection, intervention and support.