Nurture Your Resilience and You'll Avoid Burnout

Although medicine is inherently stressful as a profession, research has shown that certain types of physicians are especially vulnerable to such stress, Lofchy reported—those who have poor self-esteem, an avoidant coping style, have a type A personality, score high on the personality trait of neuroticism, and cannot say “no.”

Residency can be an especially stressful period for psychiatrists, just as it is for other types of physicians, Lofchy pointed out. Residents arrive directly from medical school, so are still in a student role, but are expected to be “real” physicians and supervisors as well. “So you have a number of roles and identities. You doubt yourself and are anxious. You may also keep negative emotions about certain patients or experiences inside yourselves, and that can be stressful. High-risk patients can also create stress, especially when you are alone in the night with them. Then there is all that fatigue. . . .”

Although the stress usually eases by the final years of residency, it certainly does not end when residency ends, she continued. “I was once at a conference in another country, and when I returned, I found that my office had been moved and my secretary was somewhere else. It was incredibly stressful.”

On another occasion, she assumed new duties, yet did not receive the necessary clerical help. “Such a situation was more stressful for me than working as an emergency room psychiatrist or working with high-risk patients.”

When psychiatrists or other physicians are faced with too much stress, it can lead to burnout, Lofchy said. “Burnout is an erosion of the soul—emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, a form of mild depression.” She surveyed psychiatrists at various stages of their careers to learn more about burnout. The survey responses revealed that it can be characterized by stupor, irritability, dreading to go to work, a loss of a sense of humor, and taking longer to perform tasks than would usually be the case.

“Burnout in turn can lead to impaired job performance, poor mental and physical health, and substance abuse problems,” she said.

Lofchy told her audience that one way to deal with stress and avoid burnout is to develop resilience. “The concept of resilience, not just in psychiatric patients, but in psychiatrists, is getting a lot more attention than it used to,” she opined.

Here's the advice she shared with her audience:

“Nurturing resilience is not only the way to deal with stress and burnout, but is the key to professional success and satisfaction,” Lofchy emphasized.