Residents and Students of Medicine are especially vulnerable to burnout, stress and depression, and less likely to be aware of available resources. Trainees may also worry that help seeking may jeopardize their career choices.
Schwenk et al reporting on a study of depression, stigma and suicidal ideation in medical students in JAMA 2010 that compared with students with low levels of depression, depressed students felt that their opinions would be less respected, that their coping skills would be viewed as less adequate, and that they would be viewed by faculty as less able to handle their responsibilities, and that telling a counselor or seeking treatment would be risky.
An October 2010 New York TImes column by Pauline Chen addresses the above, and a similar study by Dyrbe
The AMA has voted to mount a study of risk factors and incidence of medical trainee and physician suicide to garner recommendations to reduce the incidence of suicide at all levels of training and practice. See High Physician Suicide Rate Psych News July 09
A large 2009 study of interns shows considerable tendency towards development of depressive symptoms, see Sen et al, Arch Gen Psych April 2010
An excellent synopsis of the above article can be found in the AAFP News Now June 2 2010 by Bein.
See "White Coat, Mood Indigo--Depression in Medical School" in NEJM Sept 05
The ACP-ASIM has some superb materials addressing this topic.
AMA Virtual Mentor Sept 03
Other countries also acknowledge this to be a particularly vulnerable time in a physician's life: UK , Australia
Some reasons for this vulnerability from "Behavior in Medicine" by Shaw and Wedding, et al: Special Problems in Medical Students
British Medical Journal study shows depressed medical residents six times more likely to make medication errors. See AMN March 08 Depressed Residents Drug Errors
A recent study suggests that up to 50% of medical students experience burnout and 10% suicidal ideation at some time during their medical studies. See AIM Sept 08
Related article in AMNews Oct 08
An informative article from the AAMC Reporter covered medical student and physician suicide in December 2008