How to Deal with College Stress as a Medical & Healthcare Student

Stress

Stress happens when a person is presented with a challenge but does not have the resources available to effectively deal with that challenge. Sometimes stress can be positive and lead to growth, but if the stress is inhibitive rather than motivating, the failure to respond well to challenges can have significant negative consequences, both physically and emotionally.

Burnout

When stress persists for a long period of time, it can lead to burnout. Burnout is a state of physical and/or emotional exhaustion. It can be debilitating and is common in medical students—one study found that 45 to 60 percent of med students and residents experience stress-related burnout.

Clinical Depression

Clinical depression is on the more severe end of the depression scale. It’s persistent rather than caused by specific triggers, like loss or illness. Clinical depression, also known as major depression or major depressive disorder, is extremely common in medical students, with around one-third of medical students experiencing some form of depression.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are marked by recurring intrusive thoughts that cause excessive worry, tension, and fear. Anxiety disorders go beyond feeling nervous before an exam; anxiety affects your ability to do daily activities and can have mental and physical symptoms. Examples of different anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
• Specific phobias
• Separation anxiety disorder

• Heavy workload
  Medical and healthcare students have thousands of years’ worth of medical information to learn, and they also have to keep up with emerging trends, technologies, and best practices.
• Competition
  Premed students can feel the pressure of being in an environment with other extremely high-achieving peers who are all competing to get into med school, but the pressure continues through med school too as competition for quality residencies arises.
• Lack of control
  Students can feel a lack of control in different ways, such as not having control of their schedules, needing to take in more information than they can process in a given time, and working in unpredictable clinical settings.
• Strenuous clinicals
  Students often have to do clinicals while balancing regular coursework and labs. During these clinicals, students may have to deal with a large volume of patients with myriad health issues as well as potentially chaotic dynamics with interns, residents, supervisors, and other students.
• Exposure to illness and infection
  Getting sick can derail a student’s academics, especially with the heavy workloads involved in medical and healthcare programs. However, students must work directly with a lot of sick patients. Fear of contracting illness or infection can be extremely stressful.
• No time to address physical and mental health
  Neglecting your health can cause issues in and of itself, but knowing you’re neglecting your health because you don’t have time makes for an even more stressful situation.
• Poor sleep cycles
  Compensating for crammed schedules by foregoing sleep is common, but it typically just makes stress worse. A bad sleep schedule can lead to more physical and mental health issues, and in turn, more stress.
• Death and dying
  As students progress through their schooling, they may start to think about or directly deal with patient mortality. Knowing firsthand that your patients are dying can take a toll on your mental health.
• Disillusionment
  Medical and healthcare students often reach a point where the realize that school or their career choice wasn’t what they expected, and they feel negatively about it. Disillusionment can be caused by stress and exacerbate it as well.
• Ethical and moral dilemmas
  There will likely be times when students have to face unexpected ethical and moral dilemmas. This can be stressful and make students feel anxious, hopeless, frustrated, or depressed.
• Stigma
  While stigma surrounding mental health issues is changing, medical and healthcare students often feel like they shouldn’t need to seek help. Additionally, many campus resources may be staffed by classmates and professors, making treatment feel inaccessible to some.
• Pressure to put patients first
  Students may feel that their patients’ issues are greater than their own or may stress that putting themselves first makes them a bad healthcare professional.
• Feeling inadequately trained for necessary tasks
  Particularly during clinicals, students may have to contend with issues they do not have enough training to handle. Fear of harming a patient and not giving them proper care can be a huge stress.
• No time for hobbies, friends, and family
  When students don’t have time to do things they enjoy, they lose important outlets for stress. Feeling like school takes up all their time can make things feel even worse for students.
• Social isolation
  Between the competitive nature of school and the amount of time poured into studies, healthcare and medical students often spend a lot of time alone. Having nobody to talk to or interact with can make school extra stressful.

• Meet up with people.
  Med school can be isolating, so students may need to make extra effort to connect with friends, family, and peers. Whether building a support group with classmates in similar circumstances or simply taking a break from studying to spend time with friends, building positive interactions with others into your routine can help alleviate stress.
• Keep your health in check.
  Healthcare students should know the importance of exercising and maintaining a good diet, but their tendency to put patients and schoolwork before themselves can cause students to neglect their own health. Maintaining good physical health can help keep mental health in order too.
• Manage your time effectively.
  Controlling your schedule is a great way to reduce stress and foresee potential stressors. Students may find that blocking out time not only for classes, clinicals, and studying but also for personal enrichment, like hanging out with friends and enjoying hobbies, helps maintain good work-life balance.
• Find a relaxation technique that works for you.
  Yoga, meditation, tai chi, or even intensive martial arts that incorporate mindfulness can help students let go of stress and alleviate anxiety and depression. Many campuses have meditation rooms as well as yoga and martial arts classes, but students can also practice relaxation techniques on their own or with the help of apps.
• Stick to a healthy sleep schedule.
  Healthcare and medical students are often pressured to stay up late studying, but lack of sleep exacerbates stress and can lead to a decline in physical health as well. Students who work on closing their books and getting to sleep at a decent time every night generally have less stress and more energy to handle their busy schedules the next day. Learn more about how to get healthy sleep as a healthcare student.
• Journal at the end of the day.
  Journaling at the end of the day may make students feel less stressed and anxious and allow them to rest their minds. Instead of lying awake pestered by every little thought or worry, writing those thoughts can help students dismiss them for the night. They may also be less worried about remembering everything, since they’ll have a written account.
• Spend time working with your community.
  When medical and healthcare students get stressed out over schoolwork, they can lose sight of why they entered the industry in the first place. Getting out in the community can remind students that the point of their education is to help people, not to get bogged down by grades. This can reinvigorate stressed students and help them ease up on themselves.
• Seek professional counseling or therapy.
  There are certainly times when students need more hands-on guidance for reducing their stress. Counseling and therapy are good solutions when the stress-reducing techniques above aren’t sufficient on their own. Having a professional to talk with and guide them through specific stress management steps can be invaluable to medical and healthcare students, especially if they are currently experiencing or on the verge of experiencing more severe mental health issues.

Stress Management Apps & Online Therapy

Busy school schedules and tight budgets can make traditional mental health treatment challenging for some students, but that doesn’t mean mental health has to go unaddressed. There are many flexible treatment options that don’t require office visits. Online therapy or counseling and mental health and wellness apps, for instance, can be convenient and affordable solutions for students.

Best Stress Management & Wellness Apps for Healthcare Students

Many apps are available to help students address a wide range of mental health and wellness issues. The following apps can help students take control of their well-being and track mental health progress whenever students need support.

Online Therapy & Counseling for Healthcare and Medical Students

Many apps and online platforms provide an affordable, convenient way for students to connect with mental health professionals and seek help for stress and related issues. Online counseling providers can differ by delivery format, price, and available practitioners, so it’s important students do their research to find a service that works for them. Students should make sure they are getting treatment from certified and/or licensed professionals, but they can also check to see if their provider is accredited by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

We’ve compiled a handful of the top providers of online counseling and psychotherapy to give students a headstart in their search.