Psychiatric specialization as an option for medical students in the Indian context

There is a shortage of psychiatrists in India and psychiatry as a subject of specialization is not a preferred option among medical undergraduates. There is inadequate exposure to psychiatry during the medical undergraduate training in India which might contribute towards it. There are attempts to overcome the negative attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness among medical undergraduates by changes in the curriculum. In this paper we attempt to review studies on attitudes of undergraduate students towards psychiatry and compare the results with findings from our own survey done as a part of International Study of Student Career Choice in Psychiatry (ISoSCCiP) project.