As an aspiring student, hoping to become a doctor, I researched what life as a doctor/physician would be like. Although there were lots of positive experiences about becoming a doctor and how being able to care for other people was amazing. Yet the negatives remained about the crushing pressure, anxiety, and depression caused by this expertise.
Doctors are the people we trust the most with our loved ones, whether it’s family or friends because taking care of our health and the people around us is the most important priority in any person’s life. However, it is common for people to overlook their mental health as an important aspect of their health as it is not just about being healthy physically but also mentally, which leads to a healthy life.
Doctors are the people who tend to neglect their mental health the most. According to Psychology Today, “Physicians have a higher risk for suicide compared with other professions.”
Despite the amount of documentation of cases like these, healthcare workers repeatedly refuse to seek help for numerous reasons. One is their worry about being removed from their job because they could be seen as “unfit” to perform their duties or worse, have their license revoked. As well as the stigma around the subject altogether which could lead them to be treated differently or be judged. Another is that they don’t have time to deal with it and push it off until they inevitably never get the help they need, leading to anxiety, burnout, depression, struggles to do their job, and even live a normal life.
The stigma around mental health needs to end because it is equally important to our physical health. Doctors need to be able to receive the help they need for them to live healthy lives because, without them, people like us wouldn’t be able to lead the lives we have today. Every broken bone, heart surgery, physical therapy lesson, medicine, and more wouldn’t be possible without the amazing doctors who take care of us.
With that in mind, I want everyone to help combat this by reducing the stigma that surrounds this pressing issue, because as long as you do that for them, then they can do the same for you by helping you. As the human race, we should be able to take care of each other and be there for one another. As members of mankind, let’s remember that our mental health matters, and doctors need saving, too.
