INTERNET ADDICTION, PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMATOLOGY AMONG HEALTH SCIENCES STUDENTS OF THE WEST BENGAL UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

Background: Medical and nursing students face an unusually demanding combination of academic pressure, clinical exposure, separation from family, and limited autonomy — conditions that have repeatedly been shown to elevate the risk of depressive disorders, anxiety, and burnout. Alongside these well-documented stressors, the rapid expansion of internet access has introduced a new dimension of risk: problematic or compulsive internet use, which may serve simultaneously as a coping strategy and as an additional source of psychological harm. Despite a growing body of research on medical student mental health in India, studies that simultaneously measure internet addiction, general psychological distress, and depressive symptomatology within a single health sciences university system remain scarce. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of problematic internet use, general psychological distress, and clinically significant depressive symptoms among students affiliated to the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS), and to examine associations between daily online time, internet addiction scores, depression severity, and sociodemographic variables including career satisfaction. Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study was conducted among 60 students (MBBS, MD/DNB, DM/MCh, and Nursing) across WBUHS-affiliated institutions. Young's Internet Addiction Test (YIA; 20 items, 0–100), the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12; Likert scoring), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; 0–27) were administered. Sociodemographic and adversity data were collected concurrently. Analysis used Spearman rank-order correlations, Mann-Whitney U tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and one-way ANOVA, performed in IBM SPSS version 25. Results: The mean age was 21.87 ± 4.58 years; 61.7% were male. One in four students (25.4%) met criteria for problematic internet use (YIA ≥ 50). The prevalence of probable psychiatric morbidity on the GHQ-12 was 91.7%. On the PHQ-9, 68.3% reported at least mild depressive symptoms and 35.0% met criteria for moderate or worse depression. Passive death wishes (PHQ-9 item 9 ≥ 1) were endorsed by 40.0%, and active suicidal ideation in the preceding six months was reported by 13.3%. Daily online time showed a clear dose-response relationship with both internet addiction scores (rs = 0.428, p < 0.001) and PHQ-9 scores (rs = 0.332, p < 0.01). Students who felt they had chosen the wrong career had significantly higher PHQ-9 scores than those who were satisfied (median 14 vs 7; Mann-Whitney z = 2.18, p < 0.05). Students who practised regular relaxation exercises had significantly lower YIA scores (mean 33.5 vs 45.4; z = −2.72, p < 0.01). Direct instrument-to-instrument correlations (YIA vs GHQ-12, YIA vs PHQ-9) were small and non-significant, likely reflecting insufficient statistical power. Conclusions: A substantial and overlapping burden of internet addiction, psychological distress, and depressive symptoms exists among health sciences students in West Bengal. The relationship between daily online time and both internet addiction and depression is a clinically actionable finding. Career dissatisfaction emerges as an independent correlate of depression. Relaxation practices appear protective against problematic internet use. Routine mental health screening, structured guidance on internet use, and attention to career counselling should be integrated into university-level student welfare programmes. Larger, prospective studies are needed to establish causal pathways.