Read on Twitter
Many of my medical colleagues and I have reflected that this could have been us, at some point in our careers. And we’ve talked about the barriers to mental health care (especially trauma-informed care) in our healthcare system. There are several issues
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-husband-of-quebec-doctor-who-took-her-own-life-shines-light-on-2/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-husband-of-quebec-doctor-who-took-her-own-life-shines-light-on-2/
One issue re mental health and medicine is that when we reach out for help we are at risk of our regulatory colleges meddling. As a psychiatrist friend told me last week, “We all say, don’t go through the physician wellness channels for help. Seek mental health care privately.”
When we apply for and renew our medical licenses and insurance, we are asked about mental health. We get surveys that ask us about mental health. Completing those honestly jeopardizes are careers. We just received a burnout survey from the OMA last week. That’s a problem, see...
And then there’s the issue of our lack of trauma-informed care. In a mental health crisis, what are we offered? I have a patient in hospital right now who wrote to me, “There is no MD over the weekend.” Wait till she finds out there’s no psychotherapy, no social worker, ever.
I spoke with @cbcwhitecoat producers about their upcoming episodes on #resilience earlier this week. After chatting for a while with the producer, I mentioned that the culture of medicine expects (demands) that we cope. She said, “So we should talk about burnout.” Yes, and...
And it isn’t that some people magically have resilience, while others can’t cope. One can be extremely strong but our profession doesn’t allow us to be anything other than perfect. We need to talk about the culture of medicine & the ways we continue to stigmatize mental health.
