Private, Psychological Consultation 
Individuals, Couples, & Global Professionals 
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Shaifali Sandhya, PhD

Clinical Psychologist I

Psychological Support for Doctors, Residents & Healthcare Professionals​

I Confidential, depth-oriented psychological consultation for medical and health professionals navigating strife, burnout, trauma, and strain I 

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PHYSICIAN BURNOUT THERAPY

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Seen as the pillars of communities, physicians may find that they have no one they can turn to when times are rough. For our physicians, our life-givers, these three statistics are especially dumbfounding as they are disturbing:

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Are You Experiencing Physician Burnout:

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    •    Emotional exhaustion despite professional success

    •    Detachment from patients, colleagues, or purpose

    •    Loss of meaning in work you once cared deeply about

    •    Chronic anxiety, irritability, or numbness

    •    Feeling trapped between institutional demands and personal values

    •    Difficulty sustaining relationships outside work

 

Physician burnout affects over half of doctors in the U.S., often beginning during training.  

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The Hidden Cost of Burnout:

 

• 29 percent of resident physicians experienced depression;

• 16 percent of emergency physicians met the criteria for a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis,

• and doctors have a higher risk of death by suicide compared to many other professions. We stand to lose one doctor a day to suicide!

 

Why Physician Burnout Is Different

 

Burnout in medicine is not simply about long hours. It is shaped by:

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    •    Medical hierarchy and institutional culture

    •    High-stakes decision-making under pressure

    •    Exposure to trauma, death, and moral injury

    •    Administrative burden and loss of autonomy

    •    The expectation to perform without vulnerability

 

Physician burnout is sustained psychological response to chronic stress, emotional overload, and institutional pressure within medicine.This creates a psychological environment where competence coexists with quiet collapse.

(Scroll below to read some of their stories with identifying details changed).

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We are learning today that burnout is not simpy a rite of passage. Stress can impact one's connection with oneself and others. All such seemingly innocuous endeavors- the ability to sleep soundly at night, lose weight, eat healthy, maintain close relationships, erect healthy boundaries, and engage in one's interests are connected with keeping stress levels down. Amidst greater awareness of mental health we are seeing more physicians invested in seeking to boost their mentalhealth

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Who This Work Is For

 

My practice is designed for:

    •    Physicians and surgeons

    •    Residents and fellows

    •    Healthcare executives and specialists

    •    International or immigrant doctors navigating multiple systems

    •    High-performing professionals experiencing burnout, identity strain, or emotional fatigue

 

My Approach to Physician Burnout Therapy

 

My work integrates:

    •    Clinical psychology and evidence-based care

    •    Deep psychological inquiry (beyond surface coping)

    •    Cross-cultural and institutional insight

    •    Confidential, one-on-one consultation

 

This is not generic stress management. It is structured psychological work focused on:

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    •    Rebuilding emotional capacity

    •    Understanding internal patterns beneath performance

    •    Restoring meaning and agency

    •    Navigating identity beyond medicine

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Some Presenting Concerns of Doctors, Residents and Healthcare Professionals: 

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• Anxiety, rumination, self-doubt, and worrying about the future

• Depression

• Burnout

• Sexual coercion

• Grief and bereavement

• Relational/marital issues

• Anxiety during preparation for Board certification

• Self-worth and insecurity

• Social anxiety

• Managing difficult personalities in the work-place

• Coping with the fear and stress of litigation 

• Challenges with interpersonal communication with superiors or subordinates

• Postpartum depression

• Managing the fallout from a family member's suicide

• Navigating challenges in lack of organizational support

• Difficulty disengaging from the traumas of one's patient

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What Working Together Looks Like

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    •    Private, HIPAA-compliant telehealth sessions

    •    Highly individualized treatment approach

    •    Long-term, depth-oriented engagement (not quick fixes)

    •    Discreet and selective practice

    •    Uniquely tailored and brief 12 session course

 

This work is best suited for individuals ready to engage seriously and consistently.

 

Why Work With Dr. Shaifali Sandhya

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    •    PhD-trained clinical psychologist

    •    University of Chicago & University of Cambridge

    •    Experience working within medical and high-pressure institutional systems

    •    Expertise in burnout, identity, trauma, and relational dynamics

    •    Featured in global media including NYT, NPR, CBS

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Dr. Sandhya has provided short-term and long-term coaching for students, medical residents, and physicians all over the US, such as the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, Feinberg School of Medicine - Northwestern University, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic, Louisiana State University Health, USCF School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Yale Medical School, Rush University Medical College, Weill Cornell Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital, and others. Dr. Sandhya has treated physicians from a range of different sub-specialties - otolaryngology; cardiology; endocrinology; pain management; orthopedics; dermatology; ob-gyn; family medicine; emergency medicine; spinal; oncology; neurology; interventional radiology, and others in rural and urban settings. Dr. Sandhya also has experience with the unique challenges encountered by physicians of color. 

 

A Note on Confidentiality & Why Physicians Avoid Or Delay Therapy

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There are many practical and personal reasons why doctors who invest time and care in the health of others, push their own medical health under the rug:

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1. Stigma in the medical culture and/ or the fear of hurdles in licensing

2. Lack of wellness and support groups at their workplace

3. Long waiting times to see a psychologist or a mental health care professional

4. Lack of time and sleep to focus on self-care

5. Discounting one's mental health until it becomes a huge issue

6. Absence of a support network

 

My practice is:

    •    Fully confidential

    •    Independent of hospital systems

    •    Designed for discretion and psychological safety​​

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Doctors face constraints of time and hold concerns of stigma, losing confidentiality, and fears of regulatory or licensing bodies in addressing their mental health. 

Many physicians delay therapy because they believe: "I should be able to handle this"; "Others have it worse" and "What if this affects my license?"

 

Although physicians can tolerate high levels of stress for protracted periods before they will buckle - but it doesn't that they should tolerate exceptional stress. Coping behaviors mistakenly perceived by physicians to be driving their success, such as compartmentalization, can also affect their psyche, heath, and relationships. ​

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Begin Confidential Consultation

 

This is a selective practice with limited availability. If you are ready to address physician burnout at its root, Apply for a private consultation​​​​​​

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FAQ & Resources: Doctors, Burnout, and 

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I Resources for Physicians’ Mental Health, Burnout, Litigation Stress, and Professional GrowthI

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What does the initial consultation and coaching in general, look like? ​

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• Quality: There is going to be a lot of talking in therapy - but with insight, reflection, and purpose - so that you can connect the many dots of your life. Facilitated by insight and interpretation, it is a different kind of chat than you would have with a friend or family member. You may feel different emotions post-session and those emotions may evolve as you move beyond the superficial to unravel greater depths within yourself. 

• Duration: The initial consultation session lasts 50 minutes. A therapeutic hour is generally, 45-50 minutes.

• Homework: As coaching progresses and based on your unique journey/ history, the coach may collaborate with you to determine your favorite learning method and offer recommendations of books, articles, exercises, questionnaires, and other resources enjoining learning through your different senses. 

• Hands-on Skills: You will also learn useful techniques such as but not limited to, active listening skills, role-plays, perspective-taking, reframing, and so forth to expand your relational lexicon, and strategies you can utilize to have productive rather than counterproductive conversations with yourself. 

• Family Blue-Prints and Baggage: We may work together to create family genograms or "family blueprints" to understand how the past may be unconsciously affecting the present if you feel ready. Above all, you hold the reins to the pace you feel comfortable with. 

• You control the pace of our work together, how much you want to share and what you want to share. As you gain good tools that restructure your habits and retrain your mind, you will also find that the effects of good therapy can last years after therapy ends. Based on your life history and what you've shared, a good therapist gives you all the data, but you still make all the decisions. 

• Feeling scared or shy? It will be OK. Your coach is a warm and experienced professional who will ask you the right questions to draw you if words fail you. The therapeutic space is 'your' space where one baby-step at a time, you will be re-writing your story.

 

Do you provide coaching for medical residents and students also?​

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Yes I do. It is stressful being a student and the stress does not end when you're a physician.

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I understand that even for the most successful student, medical school is not a cake walk. Today's medical students, residents, fellows, and physicians face a slew of stresses that can be all-consuming. For doctors-in-training today, such challenges can range from: managing the stress of matching with a good medical program or specialty; traveling to hospital sites in different cities for interviews; adjusting to different cities during internship, residency, or fellowships; lack of sleep with 24-hour and 36-hours rotating shifts; following an arduous clinical day, documenting patients' progress in a consistent and detailed manner; passing the many STEP exams; providing patient medical synopsis to one's attending and the team regularly; being on call and supervising residents'; and, managing one's patients' emotional health and one's own while routinely being exposed to the traumatic events. 

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Could therapy early in the career of residents or trainee doctors help them more later?

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As physicians, medical professionals discover that when their training ends, the intensity of their professional lives does not end. Despite performing hundreds of operations, others may struggle with anxiety after a medical procedure gone awry, self-doubts about their clinical judgment, or guilt at surgical complications, years later. Therapy at critical junctures of one's career to navigate difficult personalities or politics by acquiring new skill-sets can often prevent sometimes, years of self-recrimination, dejection, or suffering. 

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Even when medical professionals can recognize signs of depression or burnout in themselves, it is often too late for them to do anything about it. Experts estimate about 300 to 400 physicians in the U.S. take their lives every year. However, while physician burnout is serious but it does not begin to capture the silent spiral downhill in a doctor's life. In our coaching sessions, you will gain practical tools of healthy coping, engage with understanding your psychological triggers affecting your personal and professional quandaries, and immerse yourself in removing psychological barriers to your drive, self-worth, and success.​

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How widespread are mental-health challenges and burnout among physicians right now?

 

Surveys continue to show that nearly half of U.S. physicians report at least one symptom of burnout (45.2 % in the most recent AMA national study for 2023) and roughly one-quarter screen positive for depression.     Medscape’s 2025 Mental Health & Well-Being Report likewise found 24 % of respondents felt “down, depressed, or hopeless” most days, and 47 % described themselves as burned out.  

 

Is therapy confidential for physicians? Is seeking help safe for my license and credentialing?​

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Yes. Therapy is private and protected by confidentiality laws. Specific licensing disclosure questions can be discussed transparently. Yes—but check the exact wording on your state medical-licensing application. The AMA now tracks state boards that removed or narrowed intrusive mental-health questions; over a dozen states updated language in 2023–25 to protect confidentiality.    Most hospital privileging forms ask only about current impairment that endangers patients, not about simply seeking care.

 

Why consider coaching or therapy instead of just “being more resilient”?

 

Two randomized clinical trials in JAMA Network Open showed that:

    •    One-to-one peer coaching delivered over six months significantly reduced emotional exhaustion and cynicism scores while increasing professional fulfillment.  

    •    A four-month on-line group-coaching program for women physicians dropped burnout scores and moral-injury indices and boosted self-compassion and flourishing.  

 

Therapy tackles deeper anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship strain through evidence-based modalities (e.g., CBT, EMDR, ACT). Coaching, by contrast, is future-oriented: clarifying values, leadership style, and communication skills. Many physicians use both—the coach for career navigation and the therapist for psychological healing.

 

What problems do physicians typically bring to a coach vs. to a therapist?

 

| Coaching-leaning questions | Therapy-leaning questions |

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| “How do I communicate with my medical group better so they can appreciate my niche competency and utilize me better?” | “I dread going to work and can’t sleep.” |  “My patients at clinic X are not motivated towards making efforts.” | | “The nursing manager is incompetent so understaff issues abound.”  | | “As a female physician how do I  process past trauma of mistreatment and gender bias towards me by an Ivy League medical institution" || “I need to manage conflict with my team.” | “I replay the deaths of NICU babies in my head every night.” |

| “I want to transition to an administrative role.” | “I’m drinking to cope with litigation stress.” | |  “I was hired to head an innovative program but after I joined the medical group, I was not provided with the staff and equipment I need.” |

 

Is seeking help safe for my license and credentialing?

 

Yes—but check the exact wording on your state medical-licensing application. The AMA now tracks state boards that removed or narrowed intrusive mental-health questions; over a dozen states updated language in 2023–25 to protect confidentiality.    Most hospital privileging forms ask only about current impairment that endangers patients, not about simply seeking care.

 

 When should I reach out?

 

Red flags include: persistent emotional exhaustion > 2 weeks, depersonalization (“my patients feel like room numbers”), worsening substance use, thoughts of self-harm, intrusive memories of an adverse event, or feedback that your communication has become brusque. Peer-support lines (e.g., Physician Support Line, 1 – 888-409-0141) provide fast, anonymous triage while you arrange formal care.

 

How long until I notice benefits?

 

In the JAMA trials above, measurable reductions in burnout occurred by three to four months and persisted to at least six months.     Brief interventions can help too: a single five-hour, evidence-based wellness workshop produced significant well-being gains for health-care workers at three-month follow-up.    Therapy length varies; many physicians find 6–12 sessions of focused CBT sufficient for litigation-related insomnia or anxiety, whereas trauma-oriented work may require longer.

 

What exactly is “Medical Malpractice Stress (Litigation Stress) Syndrome”?

 

A 2024 review in Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America describes a PTSD-like cluster—hyper-arousal, intrusive ruminations, shame, and avoidance—affecting doctors facing a claim.    Coaching can normalize the process (e.g., debriefing depositions) while therapy addresses the physiological trauma response.

 

 Does coaching differ across career stages?

 

Training years: managing workload, imposter fears, exam anxiety.

Early career: contract negotiation, work-life boundaries, malpractice firsts.

Mid-career/leadership: strategic vision, leading quality-improvement teams, public speaking.

Late career: legacy projects, succession planning, phased retirement, or portfolio careers.

Each stage benefits from coaches who understand the specialty context; therapy remains vital whenever psychological distress or life transitions (e.g., divorce, grief) emerge.

 

Are there data on suicide risk, and can help really change that?

 

One in six physicians has contemplated suicide, according to Medscape’s 2025 Suicide Report.    CDC data show the national suicide rate reached 14.7 per 100,000 in 2023.    Programs that combine coaching with easy access to therapy and peer support have lowered suicidal ideation in residents and attendings in multi-site QI projects, underscoring the protective value of early intervention.

 

Do you specialize in physician burnout?

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I work extensively with high-achieving professionals, including physicians, addressing burnout, moral injury, anxiety, and relational strain. 

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Can therapy help if I don't want to leave medicine?

 

Yes. Therapy is not about forcing career change. It is about clarity and agency - whether you stay or pivot. 

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Five Common Stressors for Physicians in 2025

    1.    Administrative & EHR overload – Documentation, prior authorizations, and inbox messages remain the single largest contributor to burnout.   

    2.    Workforce shortages & staffing gaps – AAMC projects a shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, leaving current clinicians to absorb higher patient volumes.  

    3.    Patient aggression & workplace violence – 91 % of emergency physicians report experiencing violence in the past year; incidents span all settings.  

    4.    Medical-malpractice litigation stress – Most physicians face at least one claim during their career, with documented psychological sequelae.  

    5.    Moral injury & value misalignment – Pressure to meet RVU targets or deny needed care clashes with professional ethics, eroding meaning in work (reflected in AMA and qualitative burnout studies).  

 

Key takeaway: Coaching and therapy are evidence-based, career-long tools—not signs of weakness—to navigate these stressors, protect mental health, and sustain the joy of practicing medicine.

 

Are there unique stressors faced by female and colored physicians? 

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Emergency rooms, ICU's or hospital settings can in themselves be microcosms of politics, race, and gender where the outside society may be reproduced.

 

Physicians may face a hard time negotiating the gendered or political worlds of hospitals or academic departments with its share of difficult personalities. Female physicians may find additional challenges in managing how factors such as gender, minority status, skin color, and so forth may determine others' perceptions of their clinical expertise before it is too late. They may find themselves at a loss to handle misogyny or toxic "whisper campaigns" that may conspire to sometimes, even ending their careers.

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2024 Articles

 

• “Trainee doctors in UK facing higher risk of burnout than during the pandemic” – The Guardian, 4 Aug 2024

The General Medical Council’s national training survey showed 63 % of junior doctors now feel at moderate-to-high risk of burnout—surpassing even the worst COVID-era figures. Respondents blamed relentless workloads, rota gaps, and inadequate supervision for emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Professional bodies warned that an overstretched pipeline of trainees threatens patient safety as well as physician retention.  

 

• “Suicide risk for female doctors 76 % higher than the general population” – The Guardian, 21 Aug 2024

A meta-analysis of data from 20 countries found that, despite overall declines in physician suicide, women doctors remain disproportionately vulnerable. Researchers linked the elevated risk to gendered discrimination, harassment, and the stigma of seeking mental-health care. The authors urged targeted prevention programmes and workplace reforms to close the mortality gap.  

 

• “America Could Do Without Its Chief Wellness Officer” – The Atlantic, 22 Aug 2024

Benjamin Mazer critiques U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s pivot from classic public-health threats toward an amorphous “well-being” agenda. He argues that medicalising loneliness and screen fatigue distracts from systemic drivers of ill-health—such as unsafe staffing ratios and unaffordable care—and risks commercialising wellness through expensive self-help fixes. The piece frames the wellness boom as a costly, quasi-narcissistic diversion from the hard work of health-system reform.  

 

• “The Gilded Age of Medicine Is Here” – The New Yorker, 12 Dec 2024

Dhruv Khullar chronicles how private-equity takeovers, Medicare Advantage up-coding, and cyber-attacks have turned care delivery into a profit-first enterprise. Physicians describe moral injury and burnout as they watch staffing levels fall and patient mortality climb while investors reap windfalls. Khullar concludes that unchecked corporatisation is inflating costs and eroding the professional ethos that once sustained doctors’ sense of purpose.  

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2025 Articles

 

• “One in three NHS doctors so tired their ability to treat patients is affected” – The Guardian, 3 Mar 2025

A confidential UK survey revealed that daily sleep-deprivation among doctors has more than doubled since 2022, with 35 % admitting fatigue has impaired clinical judgement. Leaders blamed rota gaps, pandemic backlogs, and political instability for worsening conditions. The findings reignited calls for safe-staffing legislation to curb burnout-linked medical error.  

 

• “NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £58.2 bn” – The Guardian, 14 May 2025

Britain’s Public Accounts Committee warned that spiralling malpractice payouts—£2.8 bn in 2023-24 alone—now rank as the government’s second-largest liability after nuclear decommissioning. MPs said rising claims, especially for catastrophic birth injuries, mirror systemic understaffing and clinician burnout. They urged faster safety improvements to cut both human harm and financial waste.  

 

• “The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze” – The Atlantic, 29 May 2025

Sheila McClear reviews a new book arguing that healthcare inequality and influencer culture have transformed wellness into a luxury status symbol. The article links the trend to soaring out-of-pocket spending on supplements, aesthetic medicine, and bio-hacking—an industry shift that sidelines evidence-based care and fuels self-focused health anxiety. Physicians warn that the monetised pursuit of “optimization” exacerbates burnout by raising patient expectations while trivialising complex disease.  

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VIGNETTES

(*names/identifying details have been changed)

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Kevin: The Physician Addicted to Worrying 

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Kevin works as a practitioner of family medicine in a hospital in rural Michigan. He describes himself as a direct, matter-of-fact physician with meticulous attention to details. "I'm not a feelings kind of guy. I'm not usually soft or sentimental," he says. But when it comes to patients, "I worry about them. I worry if they don't come for follow-ups, I worry what my patients think of me. I worry about getting sued and even the smallest encounter makes me ruminate. I make it my responsibility when patients are non-compliant. My guilt never leaves and each moment of each day, I suffer that I've somehow let someone down." Kevin has been on antidepressants, ketamines, and hypnotherapy but is still at a loss. Lately, it seems things have got worse as he is unable to get a restful night's sleep, has gained weight, and stopped enjoying the activities that previously brought him joy. With coaching, Kevin starts to explore how his feelings about his patients have roots in a past childhood trauma. As he explores his guilt, helplessness, and inadequacy underlying the worries, the initial phases are challenging for Kevin. He learns, slowly and painfully to combat a life-long habit through the importance of healthy self-talk, implementing good patient-doctor boundaries, and continued analysis of the past concerns.

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---50-years old, Family Medicine physician

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Miller: The "Bad-Ass" Surgeon Flummoxed by Empathy Towards Problem Patients

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Dr. Miller is considered a "bad-ass" by a coterie of other highly-skilled surgeon community of San Francisco, California in the face of his many miraculous saves of patients where others would have floundered. He has performed nearly 20,000 diagnostic and interventional procedures. His celebrity status extends outside of the intensive care unit and he has authored or co-authored hundreds of articles and peer-reviewed clinical research papers. "My biggest problem is that I do well when patients really need me" shares Dr. Miller, "but those are not the patients I am judged on." Dr. Miller seeks therapy as his lack of bedside manners have had many a patient irate enough to lodge complaints against him. "I'm impatient when patients challenge me and then, I become short," says Dr. Miller. "Problem patients" have dogged Dr. Miller from one hospital to another and have become a problem in itself. What brings Dr. Miller to therapy is a desire to be more patient-centric and developing more empathy for his patients so that he has fewer complaints. As therapy progresses, Dr. Miller explores critical incidents in his past that affect his biases and subconscious frustration with his patients. 

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-47 year old, male surgeon, speciality field 

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Patricia: The Discontented Top Doc Acclaimed as "40 Under Forty"

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Patricia has published many peer reviewed scientific articles, chapters, and recognized as of the top doctors in her field and state due to her pioneering work in the area of orthopedics. Yet,in her role of Medical Director in a San Diego hospital, she struggles with a deep sense of disappointment in herself and a longing to excel.  "I have unrealistic expectations of myself. I want to be a better surgeon, a better mom, a better wife, a better daughter... In that I'm constantly second-guessing myself and driving myself... 'Did I miss something? Did I forget something? Is my home clean enough? Did I do enough..?' So much is always spinning in my head. I spend 90% of my time reducing others' anxieties. I tell my children 'It's going to be ok,' I tell my patients,'You're going to be OK,' and I tell my family it's "Going to be Ok.' Somehow when I say those things to myself, they just don't stick.' With coaching Patricia allowed herself to process her parents unrealistic expectations of her when she was growing up. With her new found self-awareness, Patricia says she "realized I was trying to raise my children with the unconditional love that I did not get growing up. There were always conditions attached to everything I received otherwise I would be disowned." With coaching Patricia leaned to maintain clear boundaries with herself and her loved ones and gradually letting go of the perfectionism that was causing her stress without lowering her standards. 

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— 40-year-old, Orthopedic Oncologist

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Maggie: The Grieving Neonatologist 

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Maggie is a physician at a neonatal intensive care unit in New York, NY where she takes care of medically complex neonates or those who are critically ill. "I take it very badly when I lose a patient." When a baby dies, Maggie feels a resurgence of doubt within herself, "Families trust me with their most beloved thing and I cannot take care of it." For, "being in the situation where a baby is alive one minute and no more the next is psychologically very difficult to deal with." In the days that follow Maggie finds herself grieving over a life that could have been, and a baby who never got to live its full life. It is Maggie's responsibility to meet with the families for prenatal consultations and also in the aftermath of a baby's death. Often times grieving families themselves are "at a loss to understand what actually happened and there is a great deal of pain," adding to the level of stress and anguish. Over time, she reflects that unexpected deaths of newborns have manifested in a sense of loss, hopelessness, and revives her underlying insecurity of whether she can truly be a good doctor if she cannot save babies from dying. A major focus on Maggie's treatment plan was to separate her identity as a caring doctor from her false belief that she controlled all outcomes. At a systemic level, Maggie was able to implement trauma-informed communications within her team of providers and with families that bolstered her ecosystem with processing grief more effectively. 

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40-year old, Neonatologist 

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Lauren: No Room for Error in an Unforgiving Medical School

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"The year I crashed with depression was the darkest year. I was operating as a subhuman. My memory went to shit. I became a different person. I was trying so hard to distract myself from getting tangled in ruminative thoughts that would spiral me into despair. I would sit with a book and could not turn the page as my mind would wander off. I couldn't talk to my family. My parents would say something to me that would hurt me to push or provoke me out of the depression. Dad was clueless. When I told him I was depressed, he said, 'You're fine.' I would ask mom to tell me one thing that was good about me that could cheer me up sometimes, and she would say, 'You're a good student.' She was not trying to be cruel but she couldn't understand. Medical school was rough with a general understanding that if you had depression you either dropped out or took a year off. It was a very, very awful time."

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— 25-year old, Caucasian Medical Student, Chicago, IL

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Stacy: The Return of Depression 

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"I'm suffering from an extreme case of burnout. I'm very anxious about my future and am constantly tired," shares Stacy, an Associate Professor, and an Emergency Medicine physician. Stacy graduated from Northwestern, obtained a residency at Stanford, and gained her fellowship at UCLA and "after that, I hoped that things would settle down but I constantly feel squeezed between demands at work and home. Finding herself depleted and "feeling like I didn't care about work," "writing incomplete patient cases," "not getting my notes completed in a timely manner" and "making only superficial contact with her patients," caused her to seek counseling. With coaching, Stacy was able to gain awareness of the return of the depression that she had experienced in medical school. With healthy coping skills and implementing some practical changes in her life, Stacy was able to manage her moods more effectively. 

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— 35-year old, Emergency Medicine Physician, London, UK

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Iman: Family Therapy for Physicians Run Down by Family Feuds

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"We are a Muslim couple that has been married for five years with one child. Our relationship has been plagued with misunderstandings and miscommunications right from its start. At first, we thought it was our strong personalities and different expectations and that our relationship was just a work in progress, that things would ease themselves out eventually... Over these years, we have tried to connect but end up being fixated on what he or I did wrong in the past, how it happened and why it happened without not only resolving the issue at hand but also dredging up old issues... We have also tried pushing things under the rug but that has not worked...Our last argument dragged our families into it that resulted in a family sit-down where everyone got involved with emotions that ran high...as for the issue, not a dent was made on the original issue."

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— 38-year old, Gastroenterologist, California

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Suicidal Ideation in Physicians

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"My name is Adam. I am a human being, a husband, a father, a pediatric palliative care physician, and residency director. I have a history of depression and suicidal ideation and am a recovering alcoholic. Several years ago, I found myself sitting in a state park 45 minutes from my home, on a beautiful fall night under a canopy of ash trees with a plan to never come home. For several months, I had been feeling abused, overworked, neglected, and underappreciated (sic). I felt I had lost my identity. I had slipped into a deep depression and relied on going home at night and having a handful of drinks just to fall asleep."

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(Excerpt from: Hill, A. B (2017). Breaking the stigma - A physician's perspective on self-care and recovery. The New England Journal of Medicine, 376, 12).

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