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The justice of melancholia

In a previous issue of this journal, Nguyen [1] succinctly identified a high incidence of mental health conditions in Australian medical students.

The increased rates of depression and suicidal ideations experienced by this population depict a bleak future for the medical profession in this country. Of great concern is the fact that the barriers preventing medical students from accessing support are not only unique, but despairingly fraught with immeasurable difficulty and stigmatisation; stigma that is entrenched and perpetuated through the core of the medical culture. [2] Despite our existence in an apparently enlightened and diverse cultural framework, the disconcerting stigma branded upon mental health exists and it is truly deplorable…