The Emotional Health of Physicians

Excerpt

Emotional illness in physicians has become an issue of growing interest in the past few years. With a candor not found in any other professional group, physicians have painfully explored the impact of emotional illness, not only on their personal lives, but also on their professional ability and responsibilities (1-3). Emotional illness is a serious problem for the physician, as indeed it is for all persons, but by the very nature of his responsibilities the consequences of his mental illness impinge upon the commonweal of society.

Most of the studies on the emotional health of physicians have been concerned with