Performance and psychological distress in medical undergraduate courses

Abstract

A qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 24 students from a public
university in Minas Gerais to understand medical students’ perceptions of mental health and its relationship
with the daily routine of medical undergraduate courses. The thematic or categorical analysis of these
interviews pointed out conceptions about mental health related to the biomedical perspective and the
paradigm of psychosocial care. The main problems identified were overload, pressure for performance,
competitiveness, relationships with professors, and issues related to the organization and dynamics of the
course. No criticisms or discussions were presented about how these factors that generate suffering could
be transformed or overcome. The persistence of elements that generate psychological distress in the daily
routine of undergraduate courses and the impossibility or difficulty of thinking of other ways to deal with
the demands of the educational process point to harmful elements of today’s society, characterized by the
imperative valorization of performance subjectively assumed by the subjects.