Emotional Difficulties During Medical Studies – What Can You Do About It?

The intensity of medical studies raises emotional difficulties that many students need to deal with. Sharing feelings isn’t always easy. Can mobile apps help?

Medical studies are known to be lengthy and intensive. After working so hard to meet the admission requirements, you find out that medical school isn’t exactly what you had expected. Factors like a tremendous workload, challenging exams, and a relentless competitive atmosphere may lead to emotional distress.

You know that sharing your thoughts with others can bring some relief, but you keep everything bottled up. Your family and friends, who care about you, have such high expectations of you, and the thought of being exposed is tormenting.

And how can you convey your thoughts and feeling to those closest to you when you can’t even identify the real problem or its cause?

Medical students’ stressors crawl in at the early stages of their studies and continue to accumulate during internship and residency.

Stressors include having to absorb a lot of information, learning new skills, developing a professional identity, balancing work and life, and succeeding in the long-term tuition payments. The growing pressure takes its toll—leading to distractions, loneliness, academic gaps, and even thoughts of dropping medicine altogether-and it is a lot to handle all by yourself. Asking for help and support is a brave step but not an easy one to take.

As a doctor, you will probably see patients who are reluctant to accept a certain medical procedure, and you might tell them, “Why would you rather suffer?” Well, the same question applies to you as well: “Why would you rather deal with your anxiety all alone?” Several studies have underlined the importance of stress-management programs for medical students, yet only a few have so far managed to improve and sustain mental resilience in medical students and medical staff.

Have you ever found yourself unable to imagine your life after graduation?

Do you ever regret all the time and effort you have put into getting into medical school?

Do you feel like what you are currently learning will help you become a good doctor?

Sharing those thoughts with people close to you is essential for dealing with difficulties. That said, how do we start a conversation like that? Even approaching someone can be stressful. You can improve your communication skills by using digital applications such as CommReady. The app fosters users’ soft skills while building their resilience and stimulating their sense of self-worth. CommReady’s chatbot provides you with a safe and private environment where you can examine the situation from a new perspective without holding back and without being judged. Using our chatbot will allow you to define your thoughts and feelings more clearly, shorten the time for decision-making, reduce any negative emotions, and gradually build your resilience.