Mental health and dental education

The relationship between mental health and the educational process in dental school has rarely been explored. In the author's experience as the mental health consultant at the USC School of Dentistry, several focal points of conflict do influence academic effectiveness. These problem areas are often marked by a variety of physical or psychological symptoms such as anxiety--sometimes of panic proportions--gastrointestinal disturbances, and the like. These are frequently related to fear of failure, being exposed as being intellectually inept and fraudulent, neurotic competitive needs, real and unreal paranoid attitudes toward instructors, the student's expectations as to what his or her "silent partners" require to him or her, and the effect dental education has on marriage.

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