It is no secret that studying medicine and becoming a doctor is rewarding, but stressful and ridden with pressure.

beyondblue’s National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students found that more than 40% of medical students and a quarter of doctors are highly likely to have a minor psychiatric disorder, like mild depression or mild anxiety.

More recently there have been discussions on the New England Journal of Medicine Group’s open forum on how to avoid burnout as a medical student. These include:

• Eating healthy foods and getting enough sleep
• Spending time with family and friends
• Doing activities that are meaningful or fun
• De-stressing with exercise, meditation or yoga
• Reminding yourself about why you want to become a physician and make sure you have something to look forward to

The American Medical Association has published a list of 7 things physicians should know about the avoid burnout:

• Having a high tolerance to stress. The ability to tolerate stress is not always good, since stress gets accumulated
• Caring for patients in a high-stress practice environment
• Disagreement with the values or leadership of people leading them, whether in a large hospital or private practice
• Being the emotional buffer for patients to the extent they cannot take it anymore
• Work-life balance, as the work schedule is constantly interfering with family, social and other events
• The lack of control in setting work schedule and free time
• Forgetting to take care of themselves

beyondblue has launched the Doctors’ Mental Health Program to address the prevalence of depression and anxiety in Australian medical students and doctors.

More articles on My Heath Career:

• Mentoring in medicine – by Dr Rachel Collings
• Support for med students and doctors who are more likely to have suicidal thoughts
• Are surgeons really arrogant, or is it just that they aren’t agreeable?
• If we can go rural you can too! Dr Gerry Considine and Dr Melanie Considine

Image: PeterKraayvanger – pixabay