Neuroscience
A Michigan-based psychiatrist, Richard Balon, has raised concerns about how many of his colleagues are treating themselves for depression.
Compared with the average person, depression is particularly prevalent among doctors and especially among psychiatrists. When Richard Balon at Wayne State University surveyed 567 psychiatrists listed by the Michigan Psychiatric Society, he found that 15.7 per cent had already treated themselves for depression, 43 per cent said they would consider it in future for mild depression and 7 per cent would do so for severe depression or feeling suicidal. There was a tendency for these figures to be higher among biologically oriented psychiatrists, as opposed to their psychodynamically or eclectically oriented colleagues.
Balon’s findings are consistent with surveys of doctors conducted in Finland and Norway, which found the majority treated themselves for mental disorders.
In the current survey, the most common reasons the psychiatrists gave for treating themselves were to keep a clean health insurance record, followed by concerns about the stigma associated with mental illness. This latter finding echoes previous observations about the pervasive stigma associated with mental illness in the medical profession.
Given that some states in America ask specific questions about psychiatrists mental health when they apply for a licence to practise, Bolan concluded: “It is clearly time to reassess the issue of impairment due to mental illness among physicians, the ever-increasing lack of confidentiality, the stigma and self-treatment within our own profession, psychiatry.”
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Balon, R. (2007). Psychiatrist attitudes toward self-treatment of their own depression. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76, 306-310.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Psychiatrists who treat themselves
A Michigan-based psychiatrist, Richard Balon, has raised concerns about how many of his colleagues are treating themselves for depression.Compared with the average person, depression is particularly prevalent among doctors and especially among psychiatrists. When Richard Balon at Wayne State University surveyed 567 psychiatrists listed by the Michigan Psychiatric Society, he found that 15.7 per cent had already treated themselves for depression, 43 per cent said they would consider it in future for mild depression and 7 per cent would do so for severe depression or feeling suicidal. There was a tendency for these figures to be higher among biologically oriented psychiatrists, as opposed to their psychodynamically or eclectically oriented colleagues.
Balon’s findings are consistent with surveys of doctors conducted in Finland and Norway, which found the majority treated themselves for mental disorders.
In the current survey, the most common reasons the psychiatrists gave for treating themselves were to keep a clean health insurance record, followed by concerns about the stigma associated with mental illness. This latter finding echoes previous observations about the pervasive stigma associated with mental illness in the medical profession.
Given that some states in America ask specific questions about psychiatrists mental health when they apply for a licence to practise, Bolan concluded: “It is clearly time to reassess the issue of impairment due to mental illness among physicians, the ever-increasing lack of confidentiality, the stigma and self-treatment within our own profession, psychiatry.”
__________________________________
Balon, R. (2007). Psychiatrist attitudes toward self-treatment of their own depression. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76, 306-310.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- New Data Suggests One In Two Of Us Experience Mental Illness In Our Life-times
Mental health charities and campaigners typically claim that one in four of us will experience a mental illness at some point in our life-times. This prompts disbelief in some quarters. The rates can't possibly be that high, so the argument goes,...
- Biological Accounts Of Mental Illness May Dent Patients’ Hope And Increase Stigma
“Mental illnesses are biologically based brain disorders” - that's the bold proclamation made by The National Alliance on Mental Illness and many other campaign groups. No doubt, one intention of such proclamations is to reduce the stigma associated...
- Who Will Behave Violently In The Next Two Years?
Psychologists and psychiatrists often get the blame on the rare occasions that a former mental health patient goes on to commit a violent act (see note below). They are expected to be able to predict which patients are a risk. But a new American study...
- Overmedicated, Undermedicated?
It appears to depend on who you are (and who you ask), according to two papers in the January 2010 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. According to the press releases: More US patients receive multiple psychotropic medicationsAn increasing number...
- Imaging Technologies And Mental Disorders: Potential Vs. Use?
From tomorrow's New York Times:Can Brain Scans See Depression? By BENEDICT CAREY The New York Times Published: October 18, 2005 They seem almost alive: snapshots of the living human brain. Not long ago, scientists predicted that these images, produced...