Prevalência de transtornos mentais entre estudantes de medicina da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

PREVALENCE OF MENTAL DISORDERS AMONG STUDENTS OF MEDICINE OF THE UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS Introduction: Studies have identified several sources of stress in the activities involved in the medical school as potential risk factors for the developing of mental illness. The medical school provides a number of stressors that are perceived in an individual, subjective and time related way, depending on the cultural heritage, emotional and socio-economic status, which determines the resilience and choices of students. Although all medical students are exposed to the same anxiogenic situations, some seem to deal with such situations in a healthier way, while others show signs of emotional difficulties. The most important etiological factors of psychiatric disorders among medical students and doctors are the family psychiatric history, life experience and personality, when compared with the "occupational hazards of being a doctor." Their effects are experiment indirectly in the loss of social support wheels or the beginning of a "symptom complex" in susceptible or vulnerable individuals. The levels of emotional distress in medical students and young doctors seem to be increasing in our country and there are few publications and reports of implementation of preventive or intervention programs during training and medical practice. The data in the literature suggest a high frequency of mental disorders among medical students and point to a growth of psychological morbidity during medical school (Guthrie et al 4., 1995, Carson et al.5, 2000), associated with exposure of students to various sources of stress in the activities involved in medical training, which would provide potential risk factors for developing mental disorders. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of mental disorders among medical students, conducting a study in this population sample. Study Design: Observational descriptive. Material and Methods: One hundred and six students of Medicine, of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, randomly selected, submitted structured interviews with application of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, version plus (MINI - plus) for the diagnosis of mental disorders. Results: Eighty-nine students (83.96%) had at least one diagnosis at the time of interview. Disorders related to abuse or dependence on alcohol or other psychoactive substances (47.14%), anxiety disorders (43.38%), mood disorders (33.01%) and others (27.33%) were identified. Eighteen students (16.98%) had had depressive episodes in the past and 46.22% were diagnosed with abuse or dependence of psychoactive drugs lifelong. Conclusions: The study showed a high frequency of mental disorders in our sample in comparison to inventories of the International Consortium in Psychiatric Epidemiology (ICPE). These results are valid only for the population studied and can not be generalized.