Mental problems among first-year conservatory students compared with medical students

Musical education and the musical profession can be stressful, which may make musicians vulnerable for stress-related disorders. To determine if music students are particularly at risk for mental problems, we used the Standardised Assessment of Personality-Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) and the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ48S) to compare symptoms in first-year conservatory students (n=33) and first-year medical students (n=43). On the SAPAS, we found that medical students have significantly more difficulty making and keeping friends (p=0.015). Also, we observed a trend that conservatory students lose their temper more easily (p=0.040). Both student groups showed high scores for the personality trait "perfectionism." On the SQ48, we observed a trend that both conservatory and medical students experience more psychological problems than the general population, but there were no significant differences between conservatory students and medical students in the total scores of both questionnaires.