Clinical and Psychological Analysis of the Structure of Preclinical Mental Disorders in International Medical Students of a Russian University

Background: international medical students (IMS), who are at higher risk for mental disorders, are more likely to have severe anxiety and depression and may experience transient symptoms with some manifestations similar to psychotic symptoms. The aim of this study is to study the structure and nature of preclinical manifestations of mental disorders in international medical students of russian university using a psychodiagnostic method. Participants and Methods: the sample made up of 599 medical students of both sexes from all years of study. The compared groups included 465 international medical students (IMS) and 134 Russian students who served as the control group (CG). Mental disorders were assessed using the SCL-90-R questionnaire. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U test, the χ² criterion, and the hierarchical clustering method. Results: according to the SCL-90-R, the ISM group demonstrated a signi cantly higher (p < 0.05) severity of psychopathological manifestations across most measured parameters, indicating a higher prevalence of mental disorders. Preclinical mental disorders were identified in 26.45% of IMS patients (versus 11.19% in CG). Using cluster analysis all symptoms were grouped into three complexes: somatized anxiety with elements of dysphoria, obsessive-affective dysregulation, and phobic anxiety with alienation. The IMS risk group exhibited the highest frequency of obsessive-compulsive, depressive, and paranoid symptoms. Increased scores on the paranoid symptom and psychoticism scales were unrelated to psychotic disorders per se, but when combined with other manifestations of psychological distress, they had a negative synergistic effect on overall mental health. Conclusions: the high prevalence of preclinical disorders and the maladaptive nature of the identi ed symptom complexes in IMS dictate the need to develop and implement culturally oriented prevention programs for early identifying mental disorders in universities studying foreigners.

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