Adjustment and Fantasy in Medical Students

In an effort to identify characteristics of a group of medical students who were conflicted about their identity, the authors investigated the value systems and attitudes of 46 graduating medical students. The 11 students characterized by imagining themselves in the field of arts and letters if they had not entered medicine differed significantly from their colleagues: they had a greater incidence of psychiatric treatment, suicidal ideation, depersonalization experiences, and dissatisfaction with their medical school training; they were more likely to attend concerts and to read nonmedical books than their fellow students; they were less likely to be members of an organized religion; and they were more likely to have smoked marijuana.