News
Did you know, the suicide rate for psychiatrists is greater than for the general population?
I rang the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to do some research on how effective the various mind-healing professions are. This is the governement department which does the 7 yearly census in Australia and is a great resource for information.
I figured that the suicide rate for the practitioners could be a measure of the overall competence of that profession's effectiveness at psychological healing. After all, surely we can count on his or her imminent death to challenge the healer's competence at healing skills? Since psychiatry claims to be the king (no queens allowed?) of the mental healing profession it could be interesting to research.
Well their available figures don't go into it that deeply but they did tell me that the suicide rate for the medical profession as a whole is significantly greater than for the general population.
Psychiatry is generally regarded as producing more suicides than General Practice (and that's not even considering the patients).
Psychiatrists have a hard time of it. Not the least because they're supposed to be experts but their academic background and training (to think and diagnose clearly) makes them less able to deal with emotions "in the flesh" which, unfortunately for the psychiatrist and for the patient, is how people experience them.
One client came to me after being treated for 5 years (!) for post-natal depression by a Professor of Psychiatry at a local University. She was a GP herself and no doubt contributed to his stress by expecting too much of him (competence?).
After going into him for a session one day feeling happy, positive and optimistic, she left 1 hour later feeling suicidal. This let her know it was time to change therapists. It took aboout 8 sessions to bring about a satisfactory change.
Stress & Doctors
Here's where to get the bad news about stress and doctors. It's back to the ABS which collects the relevant figures. The medical profession as a whole has a suicide rate higher than the general population.
Suicide could be regarded as a symptom of stress. Perhaps stress is not susceptible to their best treatment.
Stress & Sexual Enjoyment
Here's where to get the bad news about stress and sexual enjoyment.
When we get stressed our vaso-constrictors get tighter. These are muscles lining the blood vessels which help regulate the flow of blood throughout the body. When they tense up too much there's less blood in the non-essential areas. Too bad for those parts which need more blood to fully function as they want to.
This news was banned in Australia!
The Good News
Luckily there is The Universal Debriefing System so all of this is worry is not necessary.