Treating psychiatric problems in medical students

The medical school educational experience is very stressful for many students, prompting some to seek formal psychiatric care. The authors describe the Medical Student Support Services program of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. From July 1983 to June 1985, this program served 66 patients, representing 417 visits. On the basis of retrospective chart review with the examining clinicians, the authors present DSM-III diagnoses, types of problems seen, descriptive profiles of the patients, duration of treatment, types of therapy used, and data on marital issues. They discuss the intricacies of providing psychiatric services to medical students and make recommendations for program development for such patients.