Common mental disorders and subjective well-being: Emotional training among medical students based on positive psychology

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 2; p. e0211926
• Main Authors: Machado, Leonardo, de Oliveira, Irismar Reis, Peregrino, Antonio, Cantilino, Amaury
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07-02-2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Anxieties; Anxiety; Behavioral sciences; Biology and Life Sciences; Control; Coping; Emotions; Female; Health aspects; Health education; Humans; Hypotheses; Intervention; Male; Medical personnel training; Medical students; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - prevention & control; Mental Health; Mental health care; Patient Education as Topic; Physical Sciences; Population studies; Psychological aspects; Psychological factors; Psychology; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Social Sciences; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Stress management; Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Stress, Psychological - prevention & control; Students; Students, Medical; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Theory; Training; Well being; Brazil; New York; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211926

The prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students is globally high. However, medical students tend to seek less professional help to treat their mental health issues. Hence, ways have been devised to reduce emotional stress in this population.
The current study uses positive psychology techniques to increase subjective well-being (SWB) in order to reduce symptons of common mental disorders (CMD) in medical students (MS).
The study comprised two groups: intervention group (n = 37) and control group (n = 32). Throughout seven weeks, the intervention group had meetings focused on emotions, mental health of medical students, gratitude, appreciation, optimism, resilience, qualities and virtues. The control group attended conventional medical psychology classes (psychosomatic aspects in clinical illness, for example).
The intervention group presented average increase by 2.85 points in the positive emotions scale; average increase by 2.53 points in the satisfaction-with-life scale; and average decrease by 1.79 points in the SRQ-20 scale, when it was compared to the control group. The intervention effect size was moderate.
Use of techniques to increase SWB may reduce CMD in MS, even if these techniques do not diminish negative emotions.