MEDICAL-STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS PSYCHIATRY IN GREECE

The present study shows a conceptual/ideological shift in the attitudes towards psychiatry of 146 fourth-year medical students after a 4-month, twice a week, psychiatry course. Attitude assessment was carried out using the Libertarian Mental Health Ideology Scale (LMHIS). The attitudinal change consisted of a shift to a more medical orientation. Two years later, 72 of the above students, those who selected a psychiatry rather than a neurology training during their sixth year of education, seemed to keep the achieved attitudinal shift stable. The above findings are discussed in relation to the pertinent literature and the important influence of the undergraduate psychiatric training on the students' attitudes towards psychiatry is outlined.