Doctors are more prone to mental health problems than any other profession, with working conditions more stressful and punishing than typical office jobs, according to psychologist Caroline Elton. A 2011 British Medical Journal report found that a third of doctors have a mental health disorder, while a Royal College of Physicians survey last year revealed that 70% of junior doctors worked on permanently understaffed rotas, 80% felt excessive stress, and a quarter said their mental health was seriously impacted.
Elton, an occupational psychologist who has worked with medics for over 20 years, says the psychological wellbeing of the medical workforce is being completely ignored. She ran an NHS careers advisory service for trainee doctors in London for a decade, where she encountered emotional themes such as coping with the transition from medical school, exposure to patient suffering, and reconciling family and professional demands.
In her new book, Also Human, Elton profiles medics in despair, including a trainee paediatrician paralysed by fear of a baby or mother dying, who failed his final exam and abandoned medicine. Another trainee vomited daily from anxiety and panic. Elton notes that technological advances have not been matched by understanding of doctors' psychological load, calling the current state 'the dark ages'.
Difficulties often begin after medical school, as final exam results determine job placements, leaving weaker graduates isolated in unpopular posts far from support networks. The European working time directive, which limited junior doctors' hours, has paradoxically increased handover frequency, destabilising teams and leaving juniors unsupported, Elton explains.
