Exploring Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Third Year Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Treatment-Seeking Attitudes
Keywords:
Generalized anxiety disorder, medical students, mental health, mental health stigma, mental wellnessAbstract
Objective: This study analyzes the levels and rates of generalized anxiety among third-year medical students and what prevents them from seeking treatment. Our study was conducted among the students of third-year MBBS studying at Karachi Medical and Dental College. The questionnaire, which consisted of 17 questions, was sent out online among all the 254 students studying in their third year in the college. The response rate was 35%. The responses were collected, evaluated, and analyzed using IBM SPSS 22 software. Results: Our study showed that 36% of students were facing mild, 25.1% of students were facing moderate and 36% of the students were facing a severe form of generalized anxiety. When it comes to what prevents them from seeking treatment for their condition, 10(5.2%) have no access to a psychiatrist, 16(8.3%) feel shy sharing their problem with the doctor and 4(2.1%) feel like there is no solution to their condition. 14(7.3%) cannot afford treatment, and 12(6.3%) do not want people, relatives, or parents to know that they seek treatment for anxiety. 38(19.8) feel like they can deal with it on their own, 23(12%) feel like it will get better on its own whereas 16(8.3%) are very busy because of medical college and do not have time to seek treatment. 12(6.3%) do not have the energy, 29(15.1%) feel like it is just a phase and they will get through it and 18(9.4%) feel like they do not need treatment for their condition. Conclusion: Awareness about mental health among medical students is a topic that must be focused on to a greater degree, to protect the future generations of doctors and help each of them individually to overcome their mental health problems.
References
World Health Organization: WHO. (2022). Mental disorders. www.who.int. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mentaldisorders#:~:text=A%20mental%20disorder%20is%20characterized, different%20types%20of%20mental%20disorders
Dattani, S. (2021, August 20). Mental Health. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health
Arias, D., Saxena, S., & Verguet, S. (2022). Quantifying the global burden of mental disorders and their economic value. EClinicalMedicine, 54, 101675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101675
Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control. (n.d.). National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/generalized-anxietydisorder-gad
Quek, Tam, Tran, Zhang, Zhang, Ho, & Ho. (2019). The Global Prevalence of Anxiety Among Medical Students: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(15), 2735. doi:10.3390/ijerph16152735
Baldwin, D. S., Anderson, I. M., Nutt, D. J., Bandelow, B., Bond, A., Davidson, J. R., den Boer, J. A., Fineberg, N. A., Knapp, M., Scott, J., Wittchen, H. U., & British Association for Psychopharmacology (2005). Evidence-based guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety disorders: recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 19(6), 567–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881105059253
Supervia P. U., Robres A. Q. (2021). Emotional Regulation and Academic Performance in the Academic Context: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in Secondary Education Students, Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18(11):5715.
Zhang, Y., Chen, C., Pan, X., Guo, J., Li, Y., Franco, O. H., Liu, G., & Pan, A. (2021). Associations of healthy lifestyle and socioeconomic status with mortality and incident cardiovascular disease: two prospective cohort studies. BMJ, n604. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n604
Abdulghani, H. M., Alkanhal, A., Mahmoud, E., Ponnamperuma, G., & Al-Faris, E. A. (2011). Stress and Its Effects on Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study at a College of Medicine in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 29(5). https://doi.org/10.3329/jhpn.v29i5.8906
Naveed, S., Waqas, A., Chaudhary, A. M. D., Kumar, S., Abbas, N., Amin, R., Jamil, N., & Saleem, S. (2020). Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders in South Asia: A Systematic Review and MetaRegression Analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.573150
Bahrami, F. (2011, January 1). Females Are More Anxious Than Males: A Metacognitive Perspective. PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939970/
College students’ mental health is a growing concern, survey finds. (n.d.). https://www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/06/college-students
Helmers KF, Danoff D, Steinert Y, Leyton M, Young SN. “Stress and depressed mood in medical students, law students, and graduate students at McGill University.” Acad Med. 1997 Aug; 72(8):708-14.
Guthrie, E. A., Black, D., Shaw, C. M., Hamilton, J., Creed, F. H., & Tomenson, B. (1995). Embarking upon a medical career: psychological morbidity in first year medical students. Medical education, 29(5), 337–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365- 2923.1995.tb00022.x
Sikander, S. (2020). Pakistan. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(10), 845. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30387-4
Rathod, S., Pinninti, N., Irfan, M., Gorczynski, P., Rathod, P., Gega, L., & Naeem, F. (2017). Mental Health Service Provision in Lowand Middle-Income Countries. Health services insights, 10, 1178632917694350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178632917694350
Lucia, P., & Franca, T. (2017). Associations between Shyness and Maternal and Paternal Bonds across Adolescence. Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.15406/jpcpy.2017.07.00451
Yaffe, Y. (2021). A narrative review of the relationship between parenting and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 26(1), 449–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2021.1980067
Schomerus et al. (2011) Schomerus G, Lucht M, Holzinger A, Matschinger H, Carta MG, Angermeyer MC. The stigma of alcohol dependence compared with other mental disorders: a review of population studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism. 2011; 46:105–112. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agq089.
Littlewood, R.; Jadhav, S.; Ryder, A.G. A cross-national study of the stigmatization of severe psychiatric illness: Historical review, methodological considerations and development of the questionnaire. Transcult. Psychiatry 2007, 44, 171–202. doi:10.1177/1363461507077720.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 ESI Preprints
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
