The justice of melancholia

Elliot Dolan-Evans

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011


Elliot Dolan-Evans
First Year Medicine (Graduate)
Griffith University

Although Elliot has only just started his medical journey, he has strong research interests in neurology and mental health, and is passionate about a career in neurosurgery. A concern for the health of his peers and a strong belief in the importance of good mental health for future doctors motivatedoctors motivated him to write this article.


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…