Introduction:
Now a days our students and their parents are struggling for NEET exam preparation , the amount of stress to enter into the medical curriculum itself is unimaginable. Every year after exam results we hear the news of students committing suicide, not able to accept the failure, not able to cope up the stress they go through. Not only entering into medical profession, but completing the course, doing post-graduation, super-specialty, establishing practice – all these are very stressful, but mental health is still a subject of taboo in Indian context.
When I was asked to write an article on suicide prevention, my initial thought was to write about suicide prevention for the general population. But while preparing for the article by reading various articles on that topic, I really was shocked and realized the seriousness of the problem among doctors and the importance of this topic.
Recent studies predict that rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide are much higher than expected among medical professionals. Faulty coping strategies like substance abuse and self-medication are also common.
India is one of the countries in the world with a large population of doctors – we have approximately more than 1 million doctors. Entering into the medical profession, completing the course, doing post-graduation, super-specialty and establishing practice – all these are very taxing, yet talking about mental health is still restricted in the Indian context.
Do You Know?!
The suicide risk for doctors outweighs the general population by 2.5 times. One of the many statistical studies done has estimated that one doctor dies by suicide per day in the USA.
Based on a 2019 review of the literature, there is evidence of a connection between the chosen field of specialization and suicide risk. Anesthetists, psychiatrists, general practitioners, and general surgeons may have a higher risk.
In an Indian meta-analysis study conducted in 2020, women doctors have a higher risk than their male counterparts possibly due to the gender bias they encounter.
Age too seems to play a role with younger doctors showing higher suicide risk with a shocking 70% of doctors who ended their lives being less than 30 years of age. An Indian study has reported that young undergraduate and postgraduate medical students form a majority of that statistic.
Reasons for Mental Health Issues Among Doctors:
All doctors, irrespective of their specialty, work under a tremendous amount of pressure. These pressures come from increasing patient load, demanding patients, litigious patients, inadequate infrastructure, poor management support, their own professionalism, the need for perfectionism and so many other factors.
One important factor that has to be discussed in detail is the type A personality type commonly seen among doctors. A Type A personality may have traits like competitiveness, a drive to complete the task urgently, great ambition and a goal-oriented outlook. They are very good at reaching their goals, but this personality type has also been linked to high levels of stress and health risks associated with stress.
Though there are only a very few studies conducted among doctors in the Indian set-up, according to a study conducted in a tertiary care hospital in India, the anxiety, depression and exhaustion doctors experience is related to increased hours of work, unfavourable results of treatments, unpleasant patient interactions and the unharmonious relationship between colleagues.
Consequences of Ignoring
Many doctors who were depressed, not seeking help and ignoring treatment were reported to resort to suicide.
Some of them managed to continue their work with depression and burnout but their physical health, quality of care and work performance seemed to deteriorate over a period of time.
Preventive Strategies:
Strategies to prevent suicides both in institutions and professional organizations are the need of the hour.
Proper evaluation periodically to evaluate and address work-related stress and burnout among doctors.
Medical professionals have to be trained in stress management skills by having regular workshops for stress management.
Cognitive strategies and behaviour strategies for stress management have to be focused on during such workshops.
Break the stigma associated with mental disorders and seek professional help in time.
Dr. Kurinji G R
Consultant – Behavioral Science
Kauvery Hospital, Chennai
