29% of Young Doctors Are Depressed: Study

 

A recent review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that approximately 30% of young doctors have depression or symptoms of it. Does this statistic surprise you at all? With all the stresses of classes, exams, proficiencies, clinic, labs, studying, sleepless nights, poor eating habits, missing out on family and friend's events, would you expect this number to be higher or lower?
Although this study was done on medical school students, do you feel that the same applies for optometry school, or even dental school? 

As TIME reported in depth, residents—newly minted MDs, who enter years of graduate medical education starting with the notoriously intense intern year—often have mental health problems more often than the general population. The reasons are complex, ranging from long hours and sleep deprivation to bullying by attending physicians to a stigmatized attitude against mental illness. Medical literature links untreated mental health problems in this population of young doctors to more medical errors and worse patient care.

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