![Medical Student Syndrome
I’d like to introduce you all to “medical student syndrome,” which is the fact that when people start reading about diseases and disorders, they will sometimes self-diagnose with them or worry that they have them. I bring this up because I have been posting about mental illnesses and even if they might sound a bit like you, you can not know if you have them unless you have been diagnosed by a medical professional. If these descriptions really do strike a very personal and real note, please do get help. Talk to your primary care physician or seek the help of a therapist.
As for medical student syndrome itself, it is a really interesting and pretty common phenomenon, and was described well by Baars (2001): “Suggestible states are very commonplace. Medical students who study frightening diseases for the first time routinely develop vivid delusions of having the “disease of the week”—whatever they are currently studying. This temporary kind of hypochondria is so common that it has acquired a name, “medical student syndrome.””
It happens to a lot of students studying psychology and medicine- if this is happening to you, you are not alone! But please do seek the help of a professional if you think you might have a mental illness described on this blog or elsewhere!
[Internet comic source]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1wrdlBMXW1qb6etto1_500.jpg)
Medical Student Syndrome
I’d like to introduce you all to “medical student syndrome,” which is the fact that when people start reading about diseases and disorders, they will sometimes self-diagnose with them or worry that they have them. I bring this up because I have been posting about mental illnesses and even if they might sound a bit like you, you can not know if you have them unless you have been diagnosed by a medical professional. If these descriptions really do strike a very personal and real note, please do get help. Talk to your primary care physician or seek the help of a therapist.
As for medical student syndrome itself, it is a really interesting and pretty common phenomenon, and was described well by Baars (2001): “Suggestible states are very commonplace. Medical students who study frightening diseases for the first time routinely develop vivid delusions of having the “disease of the week”—whatever they are currently studying. This temporary kind of hypochondria is so common that it has acquired a name, “medical student syndrome.””
It happens to a lot of students studying psychology and medicine- if this is happening to you, you are not alone! But please do seek the help of a professional if you think you might have a mental illness described on this blog or elsewhere!
