Dark side of the moon: a course in mental health and the arts

Abstract

In 2005 clinicians were invited to submit proposals for Student Selected Components (SSC) for third and fourth year students at the new Hull and York Medical School. As a consultant psychiatrist with an interest in the arts I proposed a 3-week course in mental health and the arts. I wanted to find ways of promoting psychiatry as an interesting and valid subject for study and practice – as described in a recent Psychiatric Bulletin article (Eagles et al, 2007), medical students' attitudes to psychiatry could be influenced by their undergraduate experience. Eighteen months later, 15 students have completed the course.

A guide to a new short course to promote interest and engagement in psychiatry in medical students

“…One of these was a 3-week SSC at Hull York Medical School on mental health and the arts. 4 The other two were both SSMs looking at the representation of mental illness in films. 5 , 6 …”