title: [Medical students' attitudes towards mental illness: a matter of studies or personality?].
abstract: Stigmatization of mental illness is a widespread phenomenon even among health professionals. To explore the origins of this inappropriate attitude, medical students at the beginning and in the end of their studies were examined with self-report measures of social distance towards mentally ill persons, beliefs about etiology of mental disorders, valuation of psychotherapy and the personality features empathy and narcissism. While the students' attitudes turn out to be unrelated to the personality features, significant differences between the two groups were found indicating that distance towards mentally ill patients in the medical role and ambivalence about the etiological factors of mental disorders are stronger pronounced in the end of the studies compared to the beginning. These findings underline the need to prepare medical students better for contacts with mentally ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Medizinische Fakultät, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf. eva.neumann@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Obliers
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Albus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002605:Character; D003469:Culture; D003479:Curriculum; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D009289:Narcissism; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012929:Psychological Distance; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011613:Psychotherapy; D057545:Social Stigma; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult