The High Rate of Physician Suicide

Becoming a doctor is a very difficult journey, and even after residency, the life does not become any easier (although no doctor is willing to repeat his/her internship).

I remember I read years ago that doctors (and lawyers) are at high risk for suicide. Even knowing so, seeing that the female doctors kill themselves at a rate 130 % higher than other adult women, is striking. Kevin, M.D. also reports that the rate among male physicians is 40 % higher than men in general.

What are the causes?

Depression? "A culture of shame and blame" as Boston Globe calls it?

Whatever the reasons are, the physician community needs to address the problem urgently. Read more in NEJM.

Suicide is second to only accidental death as the leading cause of mortality in young men across the world. High-lethality methods of suicide are preferred by young men: hanging and firearms in high-income countries, pesticide poisoning in the Indian subcontinent, and charcoal-burning in east Asia (Lancet, 2012).

References:
Kevin, M.D.
Taking Their Own Lives -— The High Rate of Physician Suicide - NEJM
Medical community begins to address physician suicide - Boston Globe
Image source: imageafter.com