Medical trainees and physicians experience high rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and burnout. The stigma surrounding mental health may deter help-seeking behaviors and increase informal treatment to maintain anonymity. Invasive health history questions on state medical licensure applications regarding mental health diagnoses and treatment likely increase stigma, reduce help-seeking, and consequently may motivate some applicants to report an inaccurate history to the state medical board. Research on physician mental health, suicide rates, and lack of help-seeking have led to recommendations for changes to licensure questions. In this article, the authors review the language of An Academic Medicine Podcast episode featuring this article is available wherever you get your podcasts.
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