Beyond The Body
  • Home
  • About
  • Contributors
  • Contact

Physician Suicide: What Can We Do?

2/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Of all the maladies that we would expect to befall doctors, suicide rarely makes the list. However, the numbers paint a worrisome picture: doctors commit suicide at a rate of 28-40 per 100,000, as compared to 12.5 per 100,000 in the general population. That's anywhere from more than 2 to slightly less than 4 times the rate of the general population. Why do doctors commit suicide in such alarming numbers?

Research (http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/410643_2) shows that the incidence of clinical depression among physicians in all walks of life is higher than in the lay public, as is suicidal ideation, with rates of depression and suicide highest among psychiatrists. 

Divorce and social distance is a factor in physician suicide rates as well, with divorce rates 10-20% higher than that of the general population and with a lower level of reported satisfaction than the general public in their marriages. The same traits that make doctors so good at their jobs, their ability to focus on work, to postpone pleasures that many others enjoy in the interest of something else, can work against them in intimate relationships. 

That postponement of pleasure can lead to compulsivity, a personality trait that plays into another major problem that doctors face: substance abuse. While alcohol and illegal drug use among doctors is approximately the same as the general population, but doctors are at increased risk of prescription drug abuse. Doctors have easy access to powerful medications that they can procure in life-threatening quantities if they so choose. 

This is in addition to a litany of known contributing factors within the culture of medicine: perfectionism, workaholism, self-neglect, a perceived inability of physicians to open up to others about their weaknesses. About their need to appear superhuman. 

So what can we do? These are major social problems that will not disappear overnight. For some guidance on the subject we turn to Dr. Pamela Wible, one of America's leading experts on physician wellness. Her webpage is available at http://www.idealmedicalcare.org.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Description

    Supporting and enhancing students' and health professionals' knowledge and understanding of mental health and psychiatry

    Archives

    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Aboriginal Mental Health
    Abuse
    Addiction
    ADHD
    Advocacy
    Agitation
    Alcohol
    Alcohol Withdrawal
    All
    Alzheimer's Disease
    Animals
    Antipsychotic
    Anxiety
    App
    Art
    Autism Spectrum
    Awareness
    Barriers To Care
    Bereavement
    BIID
    Bipolar
    Books
    Borderline
    BPSD
    Caregivers
    Catatonia
    CBT
    Child Psychiatry
    Complicated Grief
    Concussion
    CPA
    Cultural Psychiatry
    Delirium
    Dementia
    Depression
    Dermatillomania
    Diagnosis
    Documentary
    DSM 5
    Dual Diagnosis
    Eating Disorders
    ECT
    Education
    Educational Resource
    Epilepsy
    Ethics
    Exercise
    Factitious Disorder
    Film
    Food
    Forensic Psychiatry
    Gambling
    Gaming Addiction
    Gender Dysphoria
    Geriatric Psychiatry
    Global Mental Health
    Harm Reduction
    Heart Attack
    Hoarding Disorder
    Humanities
    Infographic
    Initiatives
    IPad
    Language
    Law
    LGBTQ
    Loneliness
    Malingering
    Mania
    Medication
    Meditation
    Mens Mental Health
    Mental Health
    Mental Health Law
    Mental Status Exam
    Military
    Mind-body Wellness
    Mindfulness
    Mood Disorder
    Music
    Neurodevelopmental
    Neuropsychiatry
    News
    Ocd
    Panic Disorder
    Parksinson's Disease
    Patient Perspective
    PDD
    Personality Disorders
    Phobia
    Physical Health
    Physician Suicide
    Physician Wellness
    Poems
    Pop Culture
    Postpartum
    PPD
    Prevention
    Psych Assessment
    Psychiatry
    Psychoanalysis
    Psychosis
    Psychotherapy
    Ptsd
    Recovery
    Refugee Mental Health
    Relationships
    Reproductive Mental Health
    Research
    Resiliency
    Safety
    Schizoaffective Disorder
    Schizophrenia
    Screening
    Seasonal-affective-disorder
    Selective Mutism
    Self Harm
    Self-harm
    Ses
    Sexual Disorders
    Sleep Disorder
    Social Anxiety
    Social Isolation
    Social Media
    Somatic Symptoms And Disorders
    Sports
    Stigma
    Stress
    Stress Injury
    Student Mental Health
    Substance Use
    Suicide
    Surgery
    Technology
    TED
    Therapy
    Tools
    Transgender Mental Health
    Treatment
    Trichotillomania
    Womens Mental Health
    Youth

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.