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The goal of this research is to study of the rate of depression and its relation to type of free time activities, among the medical students at Gorgan University of Medical Sciences in 1999-2000. In this study, 238 medical students (122 male & 116 female) were selected by non-randomized and easy sampling. They were tested by the Beck depression inventory, and a questionnaire due to incomplete information, 32 medical students (15 male & 17 female) were omitted. In general, the average of depressed females was lower than male students (BDI score of 10.2 against 10.9 respectively), but this difference wasn’t statistically significant. Based on this information, medical students had the lowest rate of leisure activities. 52.2% of males and 65.2% of females had not any special leisure activity. The results from this investigation indicate that there are some differences of free-time activities between male and female students. Mental relaxation was the main item among the list of free-time activities of medical students. Finally, we could not find any significant correlation between depression and the kind of leisure activities, which was the main concept in this study.

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Background and Objective: Irrational beliefs underlie a wide range of cognitive impairments. This study was performed to compare the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on irrational beliefs of medical students.
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 45 medical students of Golestan University of Medical Sciences in north of Iran were non-randomly divided into control, cognitive-behavioral therapy (first intervention) and acceptance, commitment therapy (second intervention) groups. All three groups completed the pre-test, but the control group did not receive any therapy. The intervention groups were received 8 sessions of therapy. The data were collected through Jones's 1969 (IBQ-40) irrational beliefs questionnaire.
Results: The total score of irrational beliefs in the both intervention groups were reduced in comparison with control group (P<0.05). The mean score of the problem-based avoidance subscale (35.26±6.32) was significantly reduced in the second intervention group compared to the first intervention group (30.53±9.47) (P<0.05). Also, the mean scores of emotional impulsivity in the first intervention group (22.73±9.49) were significantly increased compared to the second intervention group (29.93±1.75) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Two methods of cognitive-behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy reduce the irrational beliefs of medical students.

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Background and Objective: In the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era, messages and video calls with loved ones, family, and friends have brought individuals closer together and made social isolation more bearable. Although the utilization of these tools has numerous positive aspects, there are also negative ones. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Internet addiction among medical students at Golestan University of Medical Sciences and its association with psychiatric disorders.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 189 medical students (73 males and 116 females; mean age=23.35±3.03 years) at Golestan University of Medical Sciences in 2021. A convenience sampling method was used, and all students were taken into account as the statistical population. Data collection tools included Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) short form, which were completed by the students.
Results: Fifty (26.45%) medical students were identified as being at risk of Internet addiction, and 3 (1.58%) students were classified as having Internet addiction. Less than 4% of the students had severe psychiatric disorders, while 9.5% to 19.6% exhibited various psychiatric disorders of moderate severity. Beyond the area of hypochondriasis symptoms, significant positive correlations were found between Internet addiction and increased psychiatric disorders in other areas, including depression (r=0.285, P<0.001), hysteria (r=0.170, P<0.019), psychopathy (r=0.338, P<0.001), paranoia (r=0.384, P<0.001), mania (r=0.336, P<0.001), psychasthenia (r=0.432, P<0.001), and schizophrenia (r=0.415, P<0.001). With increasing Internet addiction, the severity of psychiatric disorders also increased.
Conclusion: The prevalence of Internet addiction among medical students was shown to be at a low level, but the severity of psychiatric disorders increased with higher levels of Internet addiction.