Breaking the Silence: Confronting Physician Stress & Suicide in Modern Healthcare-View Presentation

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This APA-sponsored webinar, moderated by Dr. Michelle Cochran, addresses physician stress and suicide in modern healthcare through personal stories, research, and prevention strategies. Dr. Keri Cunningham opens with her candid account of battling depression, PTSD, and substance use disorder despite professional success, emphasizing the pervasive stigma and isolation physicians face. She advocates for honest dialogue, self-compassion, seeking help, and recognizing addiction as a coping mechanism rather than a separate moral failing.<br /><br />Dr. Sid Barraza presents data reflecting high burnout (around 50%) and depression rates (about 20-39%) among physicians, noting depression as a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation more so than burnout alone. He highlights that female physicians have higher suicide rates compared to female non-physicians, and that residents face alarmingly high suicide rates, particularly during intense training periods.<br /><br />Dr. Srijan Sen discusses his extensive research tracking depression and suicidal thoughts rising dramatically during internship, with workload and work-family conflict, especially affecting women, as major contributors. He notes progress in reducing depression via workload reductions but calls for continued improvements.<br /><br />Dr. Michael Barron outlines physician stressors including perfectionism, long hours, emotional suppression, and moral injury, linking these to burnout symptoms that harm both personal health and patient care quality. He advocates mindfulness, wellness education, and dismantling stigma around seeking help.<br /><br />Dr. Christine Moutier of the AFSP advocates a public health approach to suicide prevention, emphasizing leadership engagement, stigma reduction, peer support, workplace psychological safety, and postvention strategies following suicide loss. She offers guidance on supportive conversations with at-risk colleagues.<br /><br />Panelists answer audience questions about identifying at-risk physicians, organizational barriers like EHR burden, medical student anxiety support, and confidentiality around physicians’ mental health treatment, highlighting progress and the need for systemic cultural change.<br /><br />Overall, the webinar stresses the importance of open dialogue, evidence-based prevention strategies, workload management, peer and organizational support, and destigmatizing mental health care to reduce physician suicide and foster wellness.

Keywords

physician stress

physician suicide

mental health stigma

physician burnout

depression in physicians

substance use disorder

workload management

peer support

suicide prevention strategies

medical internship stress

organizational barriers

mental health confidentiality