According to a recent French study, psychiatric residents are more prone to addictions and have more fragile mental health than other medical students.
Among residents in psychiatry, surgery, anesthesia-intensive care and general medicine, students in the first category are the most exposed to alcohol and drug addictions. This observation comes from a French study carried out by psychiatrists and public health specialists and published in Journal of Affective Disorders.
Carried out on a sample of more than 2,000 interns from across mainland France between December 2016 and May 2017, the study focused on questionnaires aimed at providing information on additive behavior to psychoactive substances as well as on the mental health of these students. in medicine.
This is the first study in France to mention addictive behavior among medical interns. And the figures are quite worrying: 12% of interns in psychiatry believe they depend on cannabis, against 6% for other medical students. The phenomenon does not exclude hard drugs: 24% of interns in psychiatry claim to occasionally or regularly consume ecstasy against 17% for interns in other specialties.
40% have a “worrying consumption” of alcohol
Concerning alcohol, the report mentions a “worrying consumption” for 40% of them. Unsurprisingly, these risky behaviors are accompanied by fragile mental health. Ironically enough, psychiatric interns are the worst off, since a third of them declared having consulted a psychiatrist at least once (i.e. twice as many as their interns). These treatments are often associated with taking antidepressants or anxiolytics, the study indicates.
Interns more exposed to physical and sexual violence
This situation is explained by a stressful work environment due in particular to a level of responsibility and significant pressure. In addition, there are difficult working conditions linked to the lack of resources in health establishments.
The authors of the report say they are nonetheless surprised by these results: “I did not expect psychiatric interns to be in poorer mental health than their colleagues (…) They are less directly confronted with death than resuscitators by example or less exposed to fatigue than some surgeons. And they should theoretically be better equipped to cope with stressful situations “, comments Dr Guillaume Fond, psychiatrist and main author of the study.
Psychiatric interns, however, remain more exposed to physical and sexual violence, which undeniably contributes to their psychological vulnerability.
In view of these figures, Dr Fond hopes that the information relating to the frequency of consultations and the consumption of antidepressants will help lead to a “better knowledge of the psychological problems” encountered by patients. medical interns.
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