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The Student with a Psychological Disability: Rhonda Rapp, a Fourth-Year Medical Student with Depression and PTSD

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Disability as Diversity

Abstract

Medical students are at high risk for developing depression during their training, and programs sometimes fail to make a connection between mental health-wellness events and disability accommodations. When a student presents with chronic or acute mental health concerns, a referral to disability resources may be advisable. In this case, we follow a fourth-year learner with an acute onset of PTSD following a sexual assault. As the team works to address newly developing professionalism issues, the case invites the reader to review disability-related barriers from the perspective of each stakeholder and offers guiding questions for discussing how to integrate accommodations into the system of support for this learner.

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References and Resources

Chapters 5 and 10 from the book Disability as diversity: a guidebook for inclusion in medicine, nursing, and the health professions. Springer Nature.

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Correspondence to Lisa M. Meeks .

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Meeks, L.M., Mechaber, H.F., Schroth, S., Gupta, R., Murray, J.F. (2021). The Student with a Psychological Disability: Rhonda Rapp, a Fourth-Year Medical Student with Depression and PTSD. In: Neal-Boylan, L., Meeks, L.M. (eds) Disability as Diversity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55886-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55886-4_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-55885-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-55886-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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