Physician suicide

Abstract

Introduction

Physician Suicide is a potential health risks resulting from strains and burden associated with medical education and profession. Suicide is an occupational hazard. Each year in the United States, 300 to 400 physicians take their own lives.

Objective

To provide a summary about physician suicide and its risk factors and mental health issues associated.

Methods

The search was conducted using PubMed with terms: “suicide in physicians”, “physician suicide”, “suicide in doctors”, “physician depression”, by using a review of literature with documents in English.

Discussion

Suicide is a major health problem. Suicide death is a self-inflicted with evidence that the person aims die. Mental disorders represent a large burden of disease worldwide and can also damage to physical health. The most common psychiatric diagnoses among physicians who complete suicide are affective disorders, alcoholism, and substance use disorders. In physicians, the female suicide rates are higher than that in males. The most common means of suicide by physicians are lethal medication overdoses and firearms. There are common risk factors, such as work-related stress, depression, negative life events, alcohol and isolation. In addition, there is a physicians’ tendency not to recognize depression in themselves and not to seek help.

Conclusions

Prioritize to physician mental health, change professional attitudes and institutional policies, learn to recognize depression and suicidality, educate medical students, residents, routinely screen all primary care patients for depression that can help physicians recognize depression in themselves and to seek treatment for depression and suicidality because there is “no health without mental health”.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.