Panic, chronic anxiety and burnout: doctors at breaking point

As the system piles on the pressure, who is looking after the medics?
• Scroll down for an extract from psychologist Caroline Elton’s book about her work with NHS doctors

All of us become patients, sooner or later, and there is no shortage of literature about our experience of the medical profession. Our health problems have produced numerous bestsellers, many of them written by the doctors who treat us. But until now I had read little – and must confess, thought even less – about who is taking care of them.

Doctors are more prone to mental health problems, it turns out, than any other profession. Their working conditions are more stressful and punishing than anything the rest of us have to deal with in a day at the office. When a junior doctor walked into the sea and drowned in 2016, her parents wrote: “Long hours, work-related anxiety and despair at her future in medicine were definite contributors to this awful and final decision.” Only last month, a trainee paediatrician killed herself following a panic attack at work.

A trainee paediatrician was so paralysed by fear of a baby or mother dying that he abandoned his career in medicine

Often it’s that human-to-human encounter that eases the pressure. If you detach yourself, you’re not going to get that

Too many trainee doctors realise too late they’re not cut out for the job. Many simply underestimate the commitment

While expectations of doctors become more unrealistic, the dangers of an inadequate support system put all of us at risk

‘Is there another doctor here?’ the junior asked, finding it hard to believe she was expected to fly solo

A huge number of experiences brought me to my belief that the NHS doesn’t care. That it chews people up, spits them out

Continue reading... March 10, 2018 at 03:30PM