21 percent of the doctors surveyed, in general, show signs of depression.
The burnout syndrome’the depressionthe stress both inside and outside the medical consultation and the ravages of covid-19 pandemicare the multiple factors that have contributed to many doctors feeling despair and having no hope, thus causing suicidal thoughts among specialists.
To carry out this report, the investigation has had the participation of 13,000 doctors who have shared their experience of what led them to weigh the suicidein addition to explaining how they managed those thoughts and tried to stay mentally healthy and how they helped the people closest to them who were going through the same situation.
The main results of the report show that the 21 percent of the doctors surveyed, in general, presented signs of depression. Of them, 24 percent noted clinical depression, that is, the one that is more severe and lasts a long time and is not caused by any grieving event. And 64 percent of the participants showed signs of ‘colloquial’ depression, most represented by feeling discouraged and sad.
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The rate of suicidal thoughts among physicians is higher than the general population, at 7.2% vs. 4% |
Similarly, the results showed that regarding one in 10 physicians acknowledged that they had thought or attempted suicide. In fact, recent studies have shown that the rate of suicidal thoughts among doctors is higher than the general population, being 7.2 percent versus 4 percent, respectively.
However, the report shows how the current rate of suicidal thoughts has decreased compared to the last recorded. These are those of the year 2020, which registered a figure of 22 percent, and 14 percent in the year 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, according to this last document, the rate of physicians attempting suicidebut that finally they do not achieve, has remained constant throughout all these years in a One percent.
Other medical specialties affected by suicide
With a rate of suicidal thoughts of 10 percent, there are also the following specialties: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Psychiatry, Plastic Surgery and Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine. These are followed by Gastroenterology, Radiology, Internal Medicine, Intensive Medicine, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics and Otorhinolaryngology, all with a rate of 9 percent.
On the contrary, the medical specialties whose physicians present lower rate of suicidal thoughts they are Nephrology (2 percent), Rheumatology and Orthopedics (5 percent), and Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Pneumology, Allergology and Immunology, and Cardiology (6 percent).
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