Resumen de Teaching medical students to recognize demoralization

Julia B. Frank

• Background and Objectives: Concepts such as demoralization fit well into Problem or Case-based learning methods that encourage students to organize knowledge based on clinical problems, rather than according to the disciplines of basic science.

  Methods: At two US schools, psychiatry clerkship students learn about demoralization and psychotherapy through structured, case based exercises that teach them to elicit and respond to patients� life stories in ways that emphasize hope and empowerment.

  Results: Students� reactions to these exercises, though mixed, suggest that they may enhance students� understanding of the universal elements of distress (demoralization) that cut across many disabling conditions and of the role that caregivers may play in compounding or relieving this distress.

  Conclusions: Learning to recognize and respond to demoralization is an advanced communication skill that can be introduced during a psychiatry clerkship.