Addressing medical students with psychodynamic education

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Mental symptoms rank high among medical students and residents. Roughly one fourth of the student body is affected. This widespread presence may influence the core of our profession: Emotions. Medical students who tend to suppress their negative emotions display a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety and distress. The patients' symptom onset is often linked to a specific time of personal significance. Patients regularly offer a relationship by pointing towards psychosocial issues. The students' suppression of negative emotions may lead to a neglect of topics connected to these emotions during history taking. This leads to an abandonment of the biopsychosocial model of health and inhibits the growth of a doctor-patient relationship. We need preventive measures to decrease the high prevalence of mental symptoms and improve our patient's health. Mandatory classes on patients' psychosocial clues and students' emotional response could improve two crucial points: The reduction of the students' own symptoms and a curious investigation of the patient's entire history. This personal view by a German MD is a pledge for a paradigm shift in the medical curriculum.