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Doctors Suicide - Psychology, Special Needs, Health - Posted: 21st Jan, 2019 - 9:47am
Posts: 4 - Views: 973
Doctors And Suicide
Interesting article and statistics about medical doctors in the USA.
Apparently, the suicide rate among doctors is rather high in comparison to the general population. Generally, male suicide is 23 per 100,000 per year, while women are about 6 per 100,000 per year. With doctors, the rate is 70% higher for men, and 50% for women. 300 to 400 medical doctors commit suicide successfully each year in the USA. The article cites knowledge of and access to drugs makes their attempts more successful than other people's efforts.
What a sad commentary on the state of our medical health professionals.
| QUOTE |
| But among doctors, suicide rates are about equal for men and women. A 28-state study from 1984-95 found women doctors were more than twice as likely as women in the general population to kill themselves. Men were more than 70 percent more likely inside the medical profession than overall to commit suicide. One explanation is that most suicide attempts in the broader population are unsuccessful, while doctors know how to successfully commit suicide, said Dr. Erika Frank, who specializes in research on physician health. ... "All physicians have access to neat, clean ways to commit suicide," said Dr. Robert Lehmberg, a Little Rock, Ark., surgeon who has battled depression and long considered suicide "an exit strategy if absolutely necessary." The American Medical Association has called physician suicide "an endemic catastrophe," and pledged two years ago to work to prevent the problem. But the suicides have persisted. So the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has launched an educational campaign in hopes of making troubled doctors more willing to seek help. The American College of Psychiatrists and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a maker of antidepressant pills, paid for the program. It includes a documentary titled "Struggling in Silence" that begins airing on public television stations this week. "It really has been swept under the carpet," said Dr. Paula Clayton, the suicide foundation's medical director. |
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Post Date: 9th May, 2008 - 4:26pm / Post ID: #
Suicide Doctors
I think the article says it all. The rate is high among doctors because they know what they are doing better than anyone else. I think many doctors can not handle to pressure on them to save someone at times. This is a reason that police and firefighters have a higher than average suicide rate too.
Doctors And Suicide Health & Special Psychology
| QUOTE (KNtoran @ 9-May 08, 11:26 AM) |
| The rate is high among doctors because they know what they are doing better than anyone else. |
Doctors are human with the same insecurities and frailties as the rest of us. Yet they are looked upon with god-like qualities at times. People expect them to have all the answers and hold them responsible when they don't. Working in a psychiatric hospital I see this first-hand. I know if I were ever to really want to commit suicide I would be successful because I do know how to do it right. So do the doctors. Suicide rates for the general public would be a lot higher if attempts were taken into consideration. I see people making multiple suicide attempts that are unsuccessful all the time.
Post Date: 21st Jan, 2019 - 9:47am / Post ID: #
NOTE: News [?]
Suicide Doctors
Chance of depression in new doctors depends on where they train. Nearly 20,000 future doctors will graduate from US medical school this spring, and embark on the residency training. But a new study suggests that their mental health in the crucial first year of training -- called internship -- may depend a lot on the nature of the program they enter. The year-long study of 1,276 medical interns in 54 programs finds they were more likely to suffer from depression at certain programs compared with others. Source 9j.
TOPIC: Doctors And Suicide