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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023
| Contributor Information
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Suicide has become an American public health crisis, and among physicians, rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts are higher than with average Americans, sometimes substantially so.
Neurologists and other physicians deal with the same pressures over finances, relationships, and the rest of daily life that other Americans do. But the special stressors for physicians — constantly increasing patient counts, administrative responsibilities, reduced autonomy, rising patient expectations — have been known for decades. And though the COVID-19 pandemic may be abating, that doesn't mean that the added despair it heaped on neurologists' shoulders has gone away.
Medscape surveyed over 9100 physicians across more than 29 specialties, including neurology, who were candid about their experiences with suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts. They revealed why they contemplated suicide, whether they reached out for help and to whom, how they look after their own mental well-being, and whether they helped colleagues who were struggling.
(Some totals in this presentation do not equal 100% because of rounding.)
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Looking at the bigger picture in the medical profession, 1% of physicians said that they had attempted suicide and 9% acknowledged contemplating it.
Physicians in general significantly more often report suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide than the average for US adults (4.9% and 0.5%, respectively), according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
The combination of high rate of suicidal thoughts and knowledge of lethal means among physicians concerns Peter Yellowlees, MBBS, MD, CEO of the mental health platform Async Health. "In this context, [the percentages shown above] are worryingly high numbers and markers we should be concerned about," he says.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Among physicians overall, men and women said that they contemplated or attempted suicide or, alternatively, that they never considered it at fairly similar rates.
In the general US population, studies show that "females are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than males are," warns Perry Lin, MD, national co-chair of the American Association of Suicidology's Physician Suicide Awareness Committee and an assistant clinical professor of osteopathic medicine at Ohio University.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
From year to year in our past few reports, the specialties with the highest rates of doctors saying that they had suicidal thoughts tend to be very different. Neurologists were in the middle third of specialties this year.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
In recent years, physicians overall have shown themselves slightly more likely to bring ideas about suicide to a therapist and slightly less likely to confide in none of the people listed above.
"It's pleasing that physicians are more prepared to see a therapist and less likely to keep their distress entirely to themselves," Yellowlees says.
"It's possible that the need for mental healthcare is become less stigmatized nationally, with the large and increasing emphasis on physician well-being during and after [the] COVID-19" pandemic.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Compare neurologists with physicians overall (among whom, 9% of men and 11% of women said that a colleague had shared their contemplation of suicide).
How well doctors listen during these conversation matters, for the colleague's sake and because potential impacts of colleague suicide on co-workers has not been widely researched, according to an analysis in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Myers finds the idea of an institution bearing the ultimate responsibility bothersome and simplistic. "Most suicides are multifactorial, many stressors coming together all at once in a person's life, a so-called "a perfect storm," he notes. "When and if it appears that a vulnerable medical student or physician was very poorly treated by their medical school or healthcare organization, then yes, we might conclude that this was one of the drivers of their suicide.
"But there are suicides each year involving medical students and physicians that have nothing to do with the medical school or place of work."
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
As with physicians overall, neurologists turned to healthy behaviors like hobbies and personal interests; exercise; and more time with family and friends at strong rates, which could bode well for addressing suicide in the profession.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
Doctors can turn to several physician-specific or general suicide phone or text help lines. The organizations listed above also can provide a variety of prevention and support resources. Yet another organization, the American Association of Suicidology, has a special committee generating awareness of suicide issues among doctors.
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
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Doctors' Burden: Neurologist Suicide Report
Jon McKenna | March 31, 2023 | Contributor Information
For some physicians, the stress of practicing medicine has become so unbearable that they contemplate or attempt suicide. Others have found ways to support their mental health.Medscape Features Slideshow, Mar 2023
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Jon McKenna
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Medscape Business of Medicine
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