Publication:

Depression, anxiety, stress and its correlates among students in a medical college, Bengaluru, India

Background Mental disorders are often been neglected because of its non-specificity in diagnosis. Medical education is known to be challenging and highly stressful. Many medical students suffer from psychological stress which affects student behavior, cause learning burnout, and ultimately affect academic performance and graduation. Anxiety, Depression and Stress also have a critical impact on the doctor–patient relationship and the quality of medical care that they will provide in the future, hence this study has been undertaken to assess the same.

Methods A cross-sectional study conducted among 200 MBBS students at Rajarajeswari Medical College (May–August 2023) using the DASS-21 questionnaire to assess depression, anxiety, and stress. Data were analyzed using SPSS v23.

Results Among 200 students enrolled in the study, majority 143 (71.5%) were in the age group of 18-22 years, 119 (59.5%) were females. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were found to be 96 (48%), 109 (54.5%) and 62 (31%); respectively.

Conclusions A substantial proportion of students were found to be depressed, anxious and stressed revealing a neglected area of the students’ psychology requiring urgent attention. Student counseling services need to be made available and accessible to curb this morbidity.