Our medical life is attacking our peace of mind! This starts as normal stress since being in high school to get the grades that qualify one to join the Faculty Of Medicine. This stress increases in college, with the huge amounts of references to be studied, exams, and especially if you want to be a staff member. And with graduation does it fade away?! Of course, not! “An online survey of doctors finds an overall physician burnout rate of 44%, with 15% saying they experienced colloquial or clinical forms of depression. Two new entries in the top six specialties with the highest rates of burnout compared with last year’s edition of the survey provide medical students and residents with new insight into their future careers. More than 15,000 physicians from 29 specialties responded to the survey—conducted by the Medscape news website and called the “National Physician Burnout, Depression & Suicide Report 2019.” The survey asked about the prevalence of physician burnout factors and how they affect doctors’ lives.” https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-m...ut-which-medical-specialties-feel-most-stress And it was found that some specialities suffers from burnout and anxiety more often than the others. But, why?! Neglecting our health, denial of vulnerability, thinking that we are immune to illnesses and diseases are some of the causes why we are the highest among all careers in suffering from burnout and anxiety disorders. On the other hand,some of us develop anxiety disorders due to diseases he’s dealing with. Assuming that the simplest symptom he suffers from is a sign of a serious, fatal, and rare disease. Developing an exaggerated sense of responsibility towards our patients and community, thinking that we are controlling every tiny detail of our and our patients’ lives, and looking for perfection in every aspect are some of the reasons of our suffering. Is this a simple problem that we can go on living with? I don’t think so. A recent paper—published by the Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Global Health Institute—has documented widespread physician burnout and illustrates the growing recognition that an energized, engaged and resilient physician workforce is essential to achieving national health goals. Yet burnout is more common among physicians than other U.S. workers as mounting obstacles to patient care contribute to emotional fatigue, depersonalization and loss of enthusiasm among physicians. It described it as “A Crisis in Healthcare”! http://www.massmed.org/burnoutpaper/#.XY42iYyxWhA So it is a part of our responsibility to take care to avoid being victims to stress and anxiety. We should seek a professional help once we think “This isn’t normal stress. I am emotionally worn out”. We, also, need to understand that so issues are just out of our control. We have to distinguish between controllable and uncontrollable circumstances. We are always expected to be the experts in every aspect of live. No, we are not!! And even in our fields, some cases are just so difficult that uncertainty and trials are main parts of them. Worry and nervousness became normal parts of everyone’s life, but with us -doctors- it is routine. And the equation is: Good Mental Health = Good Quality of Life + Good efficiency + Good Productivity. So, the choice is yours.
