Attitudes and Factors Related to Seeking Mental Health Treatment Among Medical and Dental Students

• DOI: 10.1300/j035v14n03_05
• Publication Date: 2005-03-22T20:25:09Z
• Authors: Sydney Ey; Kris R. Henning; Darlene L. Shaw
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; 4. Education; 3. Good health

Abstract Medical and dental students (N =315) were surveyed about current psychological distress, treatment status, perfectionism, and attitudes about mental health services. Although 23.8% of the students reported clinical levels of distress, only 7.6% of the sample reported receiving mental health treatment. Many students expressed concern about the stigma of seeking professional help, and distressed students who were not in treatment had higher levels of socially-prescribed perfectionism and held more negative attitudes about mental health services than distressed students seeking help.