Post‐traumatic stress among medical students in the anatomy dissection laboratory

The emotional and psychological responses of medical students to the human anatomy laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine were studied over four successive years. Students' reactions to dissection were assessed by interview, questionnaire, recording of laboratory conversations, and analysis of dreams. Data were collected from approximately 175 of the 350 students enrolled in Human Anatomy over this period. Interviews were also conducted with faculty and staff. Approximately 5% of the students reported marked disturbances including nightmares, intrusive visual images, insomnia, depression, and learing impairments. A large fraction of the remaining students reported similar but less severe responses to dissection in the Anatomy laboratory. These reactions strongly resemble the psychological entity known as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We suggest that the Anatomy laboratory represents a significant emotional challenge to many medical students, in that it may be the student's first intimate experience with illness and death. Further, the Anatomy laboratory may be compared to subsequent clinical encounters because it asks that a student concentrate on data collection and simultaneously deal with disturbing thoughts and feelings. Those involved in Anatomy instruction are in a unique position to help impart desirable professional values to young physicians as they adjust to these stresses.