Perfectionism, Power, and Process: What We Must Address to Dismantle Mental Health Stigma in Medical Education.

In this commentary, the authors draw on 2 personal accounts of mental illness published by Kirk J. Brower, MD, and Darrell G. Kirch, MD, in this issue to consider how and why mental health stigma is maintained in medical education. In particular, they explore how perfectionism, power differentials, and structural forces drive mental illness stigma in medical education. They argue that mental health stigma in medical education, while deeply embedded in the physician archetype and medical culture, is not inevitable and that dismantling it will require individual courage, interpersonal acceptance, and institutional action.

Duke Scholars

Author William Edwards Bynum IV Family Medicine and Community Health, Family Medicine