Abstract
The rate of mental health distress is higher amongst physicians than the general public. Despite this prevalence, physicians typically face barriers to care due to stigma within the medical culture. Medical schools and professional work settings for physicians have taken punitive measures against doctors when they have reported mental health issues or requested mental health care. As both a main purveyor of mental health care in the U.S. and a member of inter-professional clinical teams in health settings, social workers are invested in ensuring that physicians are able to receive evidence-based mental health care when needed. However, little is known about what types of treatments are available to medical students, or the involvement of social work in programs for mental distress among medical school students. This research seeks to determine the ways in which cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an evidence-based mental health treatment, or other alternative treatments are integrated in treatments for medical students. This research also seeks to determine the ways in which social workers are utilized in the mental health treatment of medical students. An exploratory qualitative content analysis was performed to examine the mental health treatment information of the top twenty-five medical schools in the United States, as ranked by the U.S News and World Review. Four main findings were revealed during this analysis. Although some schools mentioned CBT, mindfulness was the therapeutic intervention of choice used by the majority of mental health practitioners at the selected medical schools. In addition, many of the programs focused on short-term treatments targeting primarily academic concerns. Finally, social workers played a role in the majority of mental health treatment teams, as 54% of the schools surveyed utilized social workers in varying capacities. The focus on primarily academic problems may be missing an opportunity to engage students in treatments to help with the diverse stressors encountered in medical practice. While social workers are involved in current treatment programs, the profession could take a larger role in helping change cultural barriers to seeking care and providing training physicians with tools for life-long mental health wellness.