Doctors with Depression

Doctors With Depression

The informational article I selected to complete a critique on is “Silence is the Enemy for Doctors Who Have Depression” from The New York Times. This article was written by Aaron E. Carroll, who according to The New York Times is “a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. He [also] blogs on health research and policy at The Incidental Economist. This article was featured on The New York Times’ website and is available to the public.

The mental health problem that Aaron E. Carroll discusses is the presence of depression among doctors and the stigma that surrounds it. The following line found in the article clearly states the purpose of the article: “The critical issue here is that too many physicians, especially trainees, suffer in silence, afraid to ask for help for fear that they will be punished professionally, and probably, personally.” Furthermore, Carroll discusses how doctors have a constant strain on them due to the high stress level of their job, and this unfortunately leads to high rates of depression and a moderately high rate of suicidal thoughts and/or actions; therefore, because of the professional consequences of revealing the presence of depression or depressive thoughts, physicians suffer in silence and are often afraid to seek help. This can probably go without saying that this is a serious issue.

Within the general public, the issue present in this article deals primarily with physicians. Exploring the subgroups targeted more specifically, it is stated that individuals in their first few weeks of residency can become the most depressed, but even then they are too afraid to make that fact known.

The major points that are identified are that this problem is occurring, even if no one really thinks it is and also that it is okay to seek assistance even if others frown upon it. In fact, it is not surprising that many individuals