Shaifali Sandhya, PhD. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) —

 

Coaching & Therapy for Physicians’ Mental Health, Burnout, Litigation Stress, and Professional Growth (2025 edition)

 

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1. How widespread are mental-health challenges and burnout among physicians right now?

 

Surveys continue to show that nearly half of U.S. physicians report at least one symptom of burnout (45.2 % in the most recent AMA national study for 2023) and roughly one-quarter screen positive for depression.     Medscape’s 2025 Mental Health & Well-Being Report likewise found 24 % of respondents felt “down, depressed, or hopeless” most days, and 47 % described themselves as burned out.  

 

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2. Why consider coaching or therapy instead of just “being more resilient”?

 

Two randomized clinical trials in JAMA Network Open showed that:

    •    One-to-one peer coaching delivered over six months significantly reduced emotional exhaustion and cynicism scores while increasing professional fulfillment.  

    •    A four-month on-line group-coaching program for women physicians dropped burnout scores and moral-injury indices and boosted self-compassion and flourishing.  

 

Therapy tackles deeper anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship strain through evidence-based modalities (e.g., CBT, EMDR, ACT). Coaching, by contrast, is future-oriented: clarifying values, leadership style, and communication skills. Many physicians use both—the coach for career navigation and the therapist for psychological healing.

 

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3. What problems do physicians typically bring to a coach vs. to a therapist?

 

| Coaching-leaning questions | Therapy-leaning questions |

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| “How do I communicate with my medical group better so they can appreciate my niche competency and utilize me better?” | “I dread going to work and can’t sleep.” |  “My patients at clinic X are not motivated towards making efforts.” | | “The nursing manager is incompetent so understaff issues abound.”  | | “As a female physician how do I  process past trauma of mistreatment and gender bias towards me by an Ivy League medical institution" || “I need to manage conflict with my team.” | “I replay the deaths of NICU babies in my head every night.” |

| “I want to transition to an administrative role.” | “I’m drinking to cope with litigation stress.” | |  “I was hired to head an innovative program but after I joined the medical group, I was not provided with the staff and equipment I need.” |

 

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4. Is seeking help safe for my license and credentialing?

 

Yes—but check the exact wording on your state medical-licensing application. The AMA now tracks state boards that removed or narrowed intrusive mental-health questions; over a dozen states updated language in 2023–25 to protect confidentiality.    Most hospital privileging forms ask only about current impairment that endangers patients, not about simply seeking care.

 

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5. When should I reach out?

 

Red flags include: persistent emotional exhaustion > 2 weeks, depersonalization (“my patients feel like room numbers”), worsening substance use, thoughts of self-harm, intrusive memories of an adverse event, or feedback that your communication has become brusque. Peer-support lines (e.g., Physician Support Line, 1 – 888-409-0141) provide fast, anonymous triage while you arrange formal care.

 

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6. How long until I notice benefits?

 

In the JAMA trials above, measurable reductions in burnout occurred by three to four months and persisted to at least six months.     Brief interventions can help too: a single five-hour, evidence-based wellness workshop produced significant well-being gains for health-care workers at three-month follow-up.    Therapy length varies; many physicians find 6–12 sessions of focused CBT sufficient for litigation-related insomnia or anxiety, whereas trauma-oriented work may require longer.

 

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7. What exactly is “Medical Malpractice Stress (Litigation Stress) Syndrome”?

 

A 2024 review in Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America describes a PTSD-like cluster—hyper-arousal, intrusive ruminations, shame, and avoidance—affecting doctors facing a claim.    Coaching can normalize the process (e.g., debriefing depositions) while therapy addresses the physiological trauma response.

 

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8. Does coaching differ across career stages?

 

Training years: managing workload, imposter fears, exam anxiety.

Early career: contract negotiation, work-life boundaries, malpractice firsts.

Mid-career/leadership: strategic vision, leading quality-improvement teams, public speaking.

Late career: legacy projects, succession planning, phased retirement, or portfolio careers.

Each stage benefits from coaches who understand the specialty context; therapy remains vital whenever psychological distress or life transitions (e.g., divorce, grief) emerge.

 

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9. Are there data on suicide risk, and can help really change that?

 

One in six physicians has contemplated suicide, according to Medscape’s 2025 Suicide Report.    CDC data show the national suicide rate reached 14.7 per 100,000 in 2023.    Programs that combine coaching with easy access to therapy and peer support have lowered suicidal ideation in residents and attendings in multi-site QI projects, underscoring the protective value of early intervention.

 

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10. Where can I find reputable coaches or therapists who “get” physicians?

    •    Professional societies often maintain vetted coach/therapist rosters (e.g., ACP, ACOG, AACAP).

    •    CME-accredited coaching programs—look for ICF-certified coaches with health-care specialization.

    •    Confidential hotlines & platforms: Physician Support Line, AMA Peer Support Toolkits, Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation resources.

 

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Five Common Stressors for Physicians in 2025

    1.    Administrative & EHR overload – Documentation, prior authorizations, and inbox messages remain the single largest contributor to burnout.   

    2.    Workforce shortages & staffing gaps – AAMC projects a shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, leaving current clinicians to absorb higher patient volumes.  

    3.    Patient aggression & workplace violence – 91 % of emergency physicians report experiencing violence in the past year; incidents span all settings.  

    4.    Medical-malpractice litigation stress – Most physicians face at least one claim during their career, with documented psychological sequelae.  

    5.    Moral injury & value misalignment – Pressure to meet RVU targets or deny needed care clashes with professional ethics, eroding meaning in work (reflected in AMA and qualitative burnout studies).  

 

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Key takeaway: Coaching and therapy are evidence-based, career-long tools—not signs of weakness—to navigate these stressors, protect mental health, and sustain the joy of practicing medicine.

 

2024 Articles

 

• “Trainee doctors in UK facing higher risk of burnout than during the pandemic” – The Guardian, 4 Aug 2024

The General Medical Council’s national training survey showed 63 % of junior doctors now feel at moderate-to-high risk of burnout—surpassing even the worst COVID-era figures. Respondents blamed relentless workloads, rota gaps, and inadequate supervision for emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Professional bodies warned that an overstretched pipeline of trainees threatens patient safety as well as physician retention.  

 

• “Suicide risk for female doctors 76 % higher than the general population” – The Guardian, 21 Aug 2024

A meta-analysis of data from 20 countries found that, despite overall declines in physician suicide, women doctors remain disproportionately vulnerable. Researchers linked the elevated risk to gendered discrimination, harassment, and the stigma of seeking mental-health care. The authors urged targeted prevention programmes and workplace reforms to close the mortality gap.  

 

• “America Could Do Without Its Chief Wellness Officer” – The Atlantic, 22 Aug 2024

Benjamin Mazer critiques U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s pivot from classic public-health threats toward an amorphous “well-being” agenda. He argues that medicalising loneliness and screen fatigue distracts from systemic drivers of ill-health—such as unsafe staffing ratios and unaffordable care—and risks commercialising wellness through expensive self-help fixes. The piece frames the wellness boom as a costly, quasi-narcissistic diversion from the hard work of health-system reform.  

 

• “The Gilded Age of Medicine Is Here” – The New Yorker, 12 Dec 2024

Dhruv Khullar chronicles how private-equity takeovers, Medicare Advantage up-coding, and cyber-attacks have turned care delivery into a profit-first enterprise. Physicians describe moral injury and burnout as they watch staffing levels fall and patient mortality climb while investors reap windfalls. Khullar concludes that unchecked corporatisation is inflating costs and eroding the professional ethos that once sustained doctors’ sense of purpose.  

 

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2025 Articles

 

• “One in three NHS doctors so tired their ability to treat patients is affected” – The Guardian, 3 Mar 2025

A confidential UK survey revealed that daily sleep-deprivation among doctors has more than doubled since 2022, with 35 % admitting fatigue has impaired clinical judgement. Leaders blamed rota gaps, pandemic backlogs, and political instability for worsening conditions. The findings reignited calls for safe-staffing legislation to curb burnout-linked medical error.  

 

• “NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £58.2 bn” – The Guardian, 14 May 2025

Britain’s Public Accounts Committee warned that spiralling malpractice payouts—£2.8 bn in 2023-24 alone—now rank as the government’s second-largest liability after nuclear decommissioning. MPs said rising claims, especially for catastrophic birth injuries, mirror systemic understaffing and clinician burnout. They urged faster safety improvements to cut both human harm and financial waste.  

 

• “The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze” – The Atlantic, 29 May 2025

Sheila McClear reviews a new book arguing that healthcare inequality and influencer culture have transformed wellness into a luxury status symbol. The article links the trend to soaring out-of-pocket spending on supplements, aesthetic medicine, and bio-hacking—an industry shift that sidelines evidence-based care and fuels self-focused health anxiety. Physicians warn that the monetised pursuit of “optimization” exacerbates burnout by raising patient expectations while trivialising complex disease.  

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