[Stress and adjustment at the beginning of postgraduate medical training]

The beginning of the Postgraduate Medical Training is a very stressful period. Young Doctors begin to confront with the difficulties and responsability of the medical practice. Simultaneously they face important innovations, due to changes in their life style. This work was transversally designed and performed in 250 young doctors in the beginning of their postgraduate training. The association between psychopathological disturbances, psychosocial vulnerability factors and coping behaviour was evaluated. An elevated stress level was observed and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 31%. A discriminant analysis was performed and the presence of psychopathology was strongly associated with the coping behaviour and in a minor degree the personality profile. In the same analysis neither sociodemographic data and nor the stress level demonstrated any relation to the psychopathology symptoms. These findings emphasize that principally the coping behaviour, and also the personality profile plays an important role in the adaptation to this difficult period.