People in Medicine with Mental Illness

Getting Professional Help


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Suicide:
If you are suicidal (or know someone who is), please take it seriously.  Get help immediately.
Here are numbers you can call if you are thinking about hurting yourself:

1. National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433

2. 9-1-1

3. Your spouse, best friend, siblings, or parents. They would want you to call. Please just pick up the phone.

Getting professional help:
Please realize that anyone struggling with mental illness or what may be signs of mental illness, including substance abuse, should first and foremost get professional help. This site in no way replaces that essential process.  Please, if you need help, get it, before you do anything else.  Here are some of the worries you might have about taking this step, and some of my personal thoughts on ways to step over any obstacles:

1. Confidentiality can be a major concern if you are studying or working at the place where you also get your health care.  Although you may know that records are private and doctors cannot discuss their patients, you may be worried about even being seen in a clinic where you know other practitioners.  However, taking the first step to talk to a counselor or psychiatrist or family doctor is so important.  Find out what your insurance plan covers, and make that first appointment.  You can find a place off-campus if you need to, and usually most folks can afford that first appointment even if it is out-of-network or not covered.  You can subsequently work out the details of where you might receive follow-up care, or where you would go if you need to be an inpatient.  Just make that first appointment.  It is not so hard to get an hour or a couple of hours off just to get to that first crucial appointment.  You would want your patients to do it. So follow that advice.

You might subsequently want to look into places you can go, away from where you study or work if that is your wish, and get ongoing care.  This is a difficult process.  However, we are luckier than most because we do know a lot of people in medicine!  Ask someone you trust for a referral.  You can have a friend ask for you if you are concerned.  Look into inpatient facilities in your area, and know your insurance coverage details.  Just call them on the phone to find out exactly what your mental health benefits are.  This is just important information to have available. You may want to talk to your spouse or your close friends at some point and tell them your wishes about hospitals.  If you are doing a lot of rotations at a particular hospital, you may want to tell your spouse/friends that if you ever need to go to the ER or to a hospital, you would prefer a different hospital.

2. Finding time to take care of this may be another concern of yours.  You may have to meet with a few people until you find someone you can work with.  Don't give up on it.  It can be tricky finding time for appointments with a busy schedule.  However, you are usually allowed to see the doctor, even during your 3rd year.  If you are having trouble, talk to someone at your school.  Start with a professor or mentor if you don't feel like you can go to the Dean right away.  Just realize that if you don't take care of this, it will end up taking  much more time, and your health will be in jeopardy.  It is much better to take the time up front to deal with your illness or potential illness than to ignore it and ultimately let it sneak up on you when you are not prepared.  Schools tend to respect students who can acknowledge that they may even need some time off to deal with important health issues.  And please don't let your worries about what might happen and how much training you might miss interfere with you taking care of yourself.  You have to find time to take care of yourself.  Otherwise, you won't be able to take care of your patients.

3. Getting a diagnosis can be frightening, and even if you know something is wrong, you might be hesitant to find out what it is.  Please know that it is so much better to be informed, and to be able to handle a diagnosis and get help, then to suffer alone.  You might be able to take medication, or get counseling, or join a program to get better, and then you can focus on what you really love: practicing medicine.  Please remember that doctors (or future doctors) should not self-diagnose.  You can find a lot of information, as well as misinformation, out on the Internet.  But you need a professional to help you get the diagnosis and treatment you need.

4. Worries about the future are normal at this stage.  As medical students, residents, doctors, we have always thought about and planned for the future.  That is part of what makes this so frightening.  It is normal to worry about what this means for your career in medicine, as well as for your life, your family, etc.  However, do not let that worry stop you from doing the right thing and getting yourself help. You will figure out the details after you get help and see a professional.  Others have done it before you, and you will do it as well.  Just go and make an appointment first.

5. Finding someone to talk to is important while you are going through this.  This web site is one way.  Your close friends or spouse may be another.  There are support groups all over the country, and online chat rooms as well.  Many people have at least one professor or fellow physician they really trust and can go to.   You may not have needed anyone to talk to before, but find someone you really respect, and ask if you can talk with them.  You might be surprised at how understanding they can be, and how reassuring and supportive.  After all, we are all in a field where we like to take care of people.  These people will all encourage you to get help, and they should.  Take their advice and go for some help.

About this site:
This web site is not intended to substitute for medical advice.  It was created by a 3rd year medical student who was diagnosed, early in her 3rd year, with bipolar affective disorder.  Contact the web master with any and all suggestions at mdmentalhlth@yahoo.com. Last update 10/19/04.