Psychiatric Disorders Among Professional Women

Suicide Rates Among Physicians: A Quantitative and Gender Assessment (Meta-Analysis)

“…Finally, while the elevated rates of suicide among physicians, and in particular female physicians, may be much lower than the rates of other groups, such as elderly people or young adults of some ethnic groups, they may well be of special impor- Baemayr and Feuerlein (20) Innos et al (32) Stefansson and Wicks (27) Frank et al (2) Nordentoft (23) and Andersen (24) Arnetz et al (21) Lindeman et al (29) Pitts et al (3) Hawton et al (33) Herner (28) tance: the underlying risk factors for female physicians' suicides seem to be more obvious (44,(50)(51)(52)(53)(54), thus easier to target through prevention programs, than may be the case for other high-risk groups. For example, a higher incidence of psychiatric disorders, particularly more depression (55), has been reported. Furthermore, additional strain imposed on female physicians by their social roles (56), oftentimes leading to excessive drug use (52), has been associated with suicide.…”

Prevalence and risk factors for psychiatric morbidity among tertiary hospital consultants in Nigeria

“…Reported emotional problems have included anxiety, depression, drug dependence, excessive drinking and suicide, with suicide found to be higher among general practitioners than other physician groups. 13,[17][18][19] However none or very few of these earlier studies investigated all the diverse groups of consultants at teaching hospital level to ascertain possible psychiatric morbidity among them, possible risk factors, and possible differential contribution, if any, of their areas of specialisation. Therefore, the need to know the prevalence of morbidity, and the possible sociodemographic and work-related risk factors in a group of tertiary hospital staff in the north-central zone of Nigeria prompted the present study in the hope of supplementing existing knowledge and assisting our health managers and health policy formulators to prevent increasing mental health problems in the health sector particularly, and by extension, in the other occupational sectors and the general population.…”

“…Some studies have reported increased psychological distress among female executives because of role conflict and role overload, 28 and among female doctors; 19,29,30 this has been reported to increase as women occupy a combination of roles.…”

“…11,19,29,30,32 The majority (51/54, 94.4%) of the respondents were male -in African culture men are expected to hold multiple roles outside the home-keeping and child-rearing prescribed for women. This may have strengthened the resolve of the male doctors to be less constrained by or concerned with childrearing and home-keeping, avoiding any conflict that could possibly arise therefrom.…”

Anxiety, depression, health attitudes and coping strategies in doctors and teachers in a Cape Town setting

“…Several studies 9,[16][17][18] have shown that stress and depression levels among female doctors are considerably higher than those of other professional women and of male doctors. In addition, female doctors in general are reported to have suicide rates up to four times those of their peers.…”