Comments on: Physician Suicide and Identity

By: Karin

Karin — Sun, 04 Mar 2018 14:14:11 +0000

Very interesting; I think the identity issues work the same for scientists.

By: Case Study: A Military Doctor Can Retire Early. Should He? | The Happy Philosopher

Wed, 25 Oct 2017 04:12:50 +0000

[…] *Identity is always the toughest part in my opinion and that is the big question here. Will you miss identifying with being a doctor and radiologist? It sounds like you do not identify too strongly with it, but this is a question worth drilling into and exploring further. […]

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 14:07:42 +0000

In reply to b. The more we do things for ourselves and use internal metrics, the happier we become. We have to learn to say no and enough so we can say yes to what really matters.

By: b

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 17:41:54 +0000

Wow. Another great post. Here is all the ways physicians are set up to be failures:
1. Your research didn’t get a grant
2. You don’t want to do academics, so you are a sell out
3. You only went to a mid tier college/medical school/residency/fellowship so you’ll never ever make dean or managing partner
4. You aren’t “nice” enough
5. You don’t see enough patients
6. You RVUs are barely at the median
7. You don’t spend enough time teaching the students/residents/fellows
8. The students/residents/fellows gave you bad reviews on your 360 eval
If you don’t ace all of the above, you are a failure at part of someone else’s expectations. I love your idea about this being a “single person” ride. I also read recently that when you need someone else’s approval, you make yourself their slave. Imagine having to check off the approval list as a doc: 1. wife 2. kids 3. dean 4. 25 y/o MBA office administrator 5. Nurses 6. Research staff 7. Procedure area staff 8. ER 9. ICU nurses 10. The other docs 11. Patients 12. Patient’s families (even if calling over the phone states away that haven’t even seen said patient in years,…) 13. Insurance companies 14. Private contractors for insurance companies,…

Oiy. We enslave ourselves to too many people,…
b

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Sat, 20 May 2017 01:38:45 +0000

In reply to TwinDadMD. Thanks for sharing. The inability for people to seek help in a safe environment is a real problem. Physicians do a terrible job of helping our own. I think the first step is a healthy discussion.

By: TwinDadMD

TwinDadMD — Fri, 19 May 2017 22:42:11 +0000

When I was in residency, one of my friends and co-residents killed themselves during one of the more difficult rotations. He had a wife, one small child, and another on the way. It was until after his death, that we found out he also had a substance abuse problem. He had a lifelong chronic illness that he was also dealing with. This illness was probably also a catalyst for him becoming a physician. Problems with substance abuse and mental health issues are far too taboo in both society and the medical profession. Speaking for myself, I fear that if I had a serious mental illness, and sought successful treatment for it, my medical career would still suffer. Instead of punishing those who need help for mental illness in our community, we need to celebrate those with the courage to seek help and welcome them back to work. The negative stigma associated with mental health problems prevents people from seeking help. I think we are doing a better job at changing this as a society, but the physician community needs to take care of each other. I’ll stop now, as I feel I could go on forever. Thanks for your post, and keep up the good work.

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 03:13:39 +0000

In reply to Biglaw Investor. Thank you! There is no incentive for anyone to have a meaningful discussion about this topic (except for the eventual victims of suicide). Often there is much shame involved. Hospitals have nothing to gain other than negative press, etc. My hope is that this article finds at least a few people that are close to the edge and nudges them in a positive direction. Interestingly the job market dynamics are much different for physicians than many other professional careers. Once you jump through all the hoops you are not really competing all that much. The job market cycles of course, but few competent doctors have trouble finding as job. The perfectionist type-A personality probably contributes to increased suicide. We are not used to failing, so when we do the mind breaks down.

By: Biglaw Investor

Biglaw Investor — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 21:10:26 +0000

Wow, this is a great post covering a very difficult topic. I hope a lot of doctors find it. Until I read this post, I was under the impressions that doctors didn’t discuss suicide (which I find a little odd since doctors talk about life and death all the time) since my limited experience of doctors who committed suicide involved sweeping the manner of death under the rug.

I think a lot of professionals struggle with these issues and the only way out are for more professionals to get together and discuss the pressures of being a type A-personality in hyper competitive job market.

Good work Happy Philosopher.

By: TheHappyPhilosopher

TheHappyPhilosopher — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 02:30:54 +0000

In reply to saveinvestbecomefree. Thank you. There are embedded norms and structure to medical training that will be difficult to change, and to be honest it is not all bad. There are some benefits to working long intense hours, it's just many times the line is crossed. I actually thought my residency did a great job of staying on the line and not crossing over into insanity. Balance is a difficult thing to find in medicine for a host of reasons. I love part time, but it's not feasible for everyone. It would be interesting to look at suicide rates for full time vs. part time docs, but it would be tough to know what the results meant. Part time docs are a self selecting cohort and are probably very different than full time docs.

By: saveinvestbecomefree

saveinvestbecomefree — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 13:55:03 +0000

Wow. Very insightful observations. I’m really sorry about your friend. It seems doctors sometimes feel there is no way out when being a doctor isn’t working. It’s their whole life. I work in a demanding job but it’s nothing like what doctors do. The most unhappy time in my life was grad school where the culture was long-hours and completely focused on academic science. The lack of balance really bothered me. This is a small glimpse of what a doctor does (and without the life/death stress level) and I’m glad I didn’t choose that path.

The system of brutal hours in residency is baffling to me. Lack of sleep is a huge negative influence that is now better understood. You would think things would start changing, even if it’s just for the benefit of patients. Unfortunately, I suspect too many people benefit financially from the way it is.

It’s wrong that doctors can’t have more balance in their lives. It seems the best option is finding a way to work part-time or at least fewer hours. Those that have done this seem very happy. I would guess the rates of suicide of this cohort are drastically lower. Assuming that is true, it would give the medical community something to reflect on.