Physician Mental Health
My Personal Journey and Professional Plea
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21615552 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Darrell G Kirch (D.G. Kirchis president emeritus, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC, adjunct professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, and principal, Academic Health Advising LLC., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 618-620 |
| Publication date | 2021-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Academic Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1040-2446 • E-ISSN: 1938-808X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1097/acm.0000000000003942 |
| PMID | 33496431 |
| OpenAlex | W3124868817 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 4 |
Longitudinal surveys of adults in the United States have shown that approximately 1 in 5 individuals experienced a mental illness in the prior year, with an increase in the observed prevalence over the last decade. Studies of physicians, including medical students, residents, and fellows, have shown that they also experience mental disorders, with some research (e.g., on depression) showing prevalence rates higher than those in the general population. Tragically, physicians also have higher suicide rates than the general population. In this commentary, the author discusses his own challenges with mental disorders beginning in early childhood. He shares how earlier trauma led to the emergence of symptoms that nearly caused him to withdraw from medical school during his first year, and he describes how support from a faculty member helped him receive psychiatric treatment that allowed him to successfully negotiate that serious crisis and experience a long, productive career. The author underscores how the idealized image of the physician as care giver rather than care receiver that many bring to their medical career, as well as the stigma associated with mental disorders, may prevent physicians from seeking care. He uses the narrative of his personal journey to make a plea to colleagues to share their own stories of mental illness and successful treatment, arguing that this is key to ultimately destigmatizing these issues for the profession of medicine
Family medicine · Mental health · Mental illness · Plea · Population · Psychiatry · Empathy and Medical Education · Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout · Innovations in Medical Education · Medicine · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |