Physician Depression
Article Outline
In a recent address to the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, President Darrell G. Kirch, MD spoke of the “undercurrent of deeply conflicted feelings about our lives in academic medicine.”1 Dr. Kirch's sense of depression among academic physicians also is felt beyond academia. Many practicing doctors have expressed negative thoughts about the profession as it is practiced today in the US. Indeed, it is not uncommon for currently active physicians to admit that they would not recommend medicine as a career for their offspring. What is the source of this sense of depression and dissatisfaction within both academic and community medicine? I have given this question a great deal of thought in recent weeks, and I believe that its origin can be traced to multiple factors at work in our country, in our health care system, and in the world.
The first of these factors is the current political state of our country and the world at large. The poor perception of our current President and our elected representatives in Congress is unprecedented. Their inadequate leadership has, in my opinion, reduced the natural optimism of American citizens, including physicians. The war in Iraq, the frightening prospects of global warming, inequities and failings in our health care system, the impending bankruptcy of the Medicare program, the threat of international fundamentalist terrorism, and the uncertain future of the US economy are just some of the more obvious factors leading to this depressed and uneasy state of mind.
As active participants in our country, academic and community physicians cannot help but “feel the pain” of our society at this time. A change in administration next year will, we hope, lead to significant and effective efforts to reform our health care system as well as begin to solve the multiple environmental and political problems facing the US. It is my personal hope that improvements in these areas will lead to a more positive attitude among physicians and the global community. Our planet has faced grave situations before and has dealt with them successfully. The devastation of Europe in the Middle Ages by bubonic plague, seemingly endless states of warfare throughout recorded history, the great economic depression of the 1930s, the horrors of World War II, and the daily threat of human extinction from a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War era are but a few of the horrors that humans have faced and somehow survived successfully.
On the bright side of things, and as an incurable optimist, everyday I am impressed by the dedication, hard work, and commitment of our medical students, residents, and fellows at university medical centers here and abroad. Their generally affirmative attitude toward their lives and careers has convinced me that the culture and the atmosphere of academic and community medicine will improve as the political situation in the US and in the world comes to focus more on what President Kennedy stated many years ago: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”2 In my opinion, too many of our colleagues and fellow citizens, both in academic and community practice, as well as in our society in general, are focused on accumulating wealth. I believe that the current generation of students and postgraduate trainees are moving away from seeing medicine as a way to get wealthy and more as a way to serve their community. Working closely with them on a daily basis has convinced me that we will succeed in improving patient care, at stopping global warming, and in creating a sense of global unity working to the good of humankind. At least, I have to believe that this is the case in order to get up in the morning and go to work!
References
- . AAMC President's Address 2007: Culture and the Courage to Change. http://www.opa.medicine.edu/AAMCaddress.pdf
- . http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm
PII: S0002-9343(08)00056-9
doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.01.013
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
