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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Last year was especially tough for physicians: The isolating quarantine of 2020 was over, but in 2021, physicians were trying to get back to work while dealing with reduced staff, COVID stress, and an anxiety of having kids heading to school amid the ongoing pandemic. More than 13,000 physicians in 29 specialties told us about their battles with mental health and how they're coping with burnout.
(Note: Some totals in this presentation do not equal 100% due to rounding).
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Burnout has increased: In last year's report, 42% of physicians reported that they are burned out; this year, that amount is 47%. Last year, critical care (51%), rheumatology (50%), infectious disease (49%), and urology (49%) were among the specialties in which burnout was most prevalent. This year saw a major increase in burnout among emergency physicians, which went from 43% last year to 60% this year.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Burnout increased for both genders: In 2020, 36% of men and 51% of women were burned out. "There's no question that women have reported far more role strain during the pandemic than men," says Carol A. Bernstein, MD, psychiatrist at Montefiore Health System and professor and vice chair for faculty development and wellbeing at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Often women assumed more of the childcare and homeschooling responsibilities in their households. As a result, we know that more women dropped out of the workforce. Also, past studies indicate that women are more likely to report feelings of burnout than men."
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Too many bureaucratic tasks topped the list of burnout causes, as it does every year. Too little pay and too many hours at work were somewhat smaller factors this year than they were last year.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Why do some physicians get overwhelmed whereas others in a similar situation don't? "The rhetoric around burnout, for years, has been about individual frailty, rather than about system dysfunction," says Wendy K. Dean, MD, president at Moral Injury of Healthcare. "Some have even gone so far as to suggest that physician personality structure is to blame for their burnout. But in our conversations with hundreds of physicians, they have said, repeatedly, that the constraints in the system which prevent them from getting their patients the care they need — moral injury, in other words — are the primary source of their distress. It's time to stop holding individual clinicians responsible for the dysfunction of the US healthcare system."
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Age seems to bring some confidence; fewer physicians aged 45-54 fear that others are handling burnout better than they are (13%) than do those under the age of 35 (22%). About half of physicians think they're coping about as well as anyone else.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Outpatient clinics and hospitals saw a big jump in the percentage of burned-out physicians. In last year's report, 46% of physicians working in outpatient clinics reported burnout (now 58%), and 40% of physicians in hospitals were burned out (now 48%).
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
For many physicians who are burned out, the impact is profound. Burnout and its effects permeate most aspects of their lives.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Exercising is many physicians' preferred method of dealing with stress. In Medscape's Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2022, 63% of physician respondents said that they exercise to help maintain positive mental health. In a study of almost 5000 physicians by Runner's World magazine, almost 50% of physician respondents under the age of 40 said that they typically run as a leisure activity. Among the physicians aged 40-59, 36% say they run as well.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Despite jigsaw puzzles and Netflix, the quarantine months were rough for most people. Still, for many, those months were less stressful and overwhelming than now — when most are returning to work, and kids are returning to the classroom.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
More than two thirds of physicians say burnout affects their relationships. They say tempers flare more quickly, there's less time or interest in romance, and many parents feel guilty that they're spending less time with the kids because they're so stressed.
"I have no more patience for friends who are against the vaccine and minimizing the effects of COVID, while I'm at work risking my health and working crazy hours every day to treat people who are ill from the virus."
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Physicians' prime tactics were both external and internal: trying to change the situation that creates overwork and attempting to deal with the situation differently within themselves. Still, over a quarter of physicians are just soldiering on. (Participants could choose more than one response.)
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Many physicians perceive other professions to have lower burnout levels. Just 36% of physicians believe teachers experience comparable burnout, yet more than 41% of teachers leave the profession within 5 years of starting — often due to burnout.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
About a fifth (21%) of physicians said they were depressed. Of those, about a quarter of physicians said they were clinically depressed, which is a fairly high rate. "Burnout is a syndrome caused by occupational stress, whereas depression is an illness caused by many different biological, psychological, and social (including occupational) factors. As such, they can be causally related in both directions — burnout can be a vulnerability factor that leads to depression, and depression can make an individual more likely to suffer burnout," says Dr Peter Yellowlees.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
About a third of physicians who said they were depressed also noted that they had suffered from depression at some earlier time in their life.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
"Like many other illnesses, both medical and psychological, everyone reacts differently depending on their emotional and physical states — whether they're suffering from depression, anxiety, or another medical condition," says Bernstein. "Each person has a unique set of internal and external experiences that shape their ability to work effectively. Doctor-patient relationships are affected by all of these variables and more."
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
"There seems to be a genetic predisposition to some types of depression," says John Whyte, MD, MPH, chief medical officer at WebMD. "There are also many nongenetic factors that are considered to increase the risk for depression; for example, family members who grew up in the same environment containing harmful or negative interactions may develop similar coping mechanisms. It's likely that on average, 35% of depression has some genetic component and around 65% is attributed to lifestyle."
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
There were more happy days — and fewer unhappy days — prior to COVID, probably for much of the country. People have lost family members and friends to the disease, are socializing less than before, and many have lost their jobs or income.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Family, activities, and exercise are what bring joy to most physicians and restore a sense of serenity. "Close and intimate relationships are the single most important protective factor for our mental health. The converse of this is that isolation and loneliness are very important stressors, and we know that about 25% of the population reports being lonely, so this may well be why 32% of the respondents did not say that spending time with friends/relatives was good for their mental health," says Yellowlees.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
The American Medical Association recommends many ways for healthcare organizations to help physicians who are feeling burned out, including peer-to-peer support groups and developing team-based care, which can help to rebalance workloads.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
About half of physicians think they can deal with emotional distress on their own. In addition, the fear of employers or a medical board finding out looms large. Some physicians have reported serious career problems when mental health issues were revealed, and in general, there is still a stigma about mental health in society.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Because burnout has multiple causes, multiple factors could potentially ease the situation. (Participants could choose more than one response.)
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
Burnout reduction has spawned many businesses, and many physicians have used the services of such coaches — as well as traditional mental health professionals — to find ways to cope with and minimize burnout.
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2022: Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
Leslie Kane, MA | January 21, 2022 | Contributor Information
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