If you’re a healthcare practitioner struggling with your mental health, you
are not alone. The Canadian Medical Association’s 2021 National Physician Health Survey revealed that 6 in 10 respondents reported having worsened mental health since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half of respondents screened positive for depression.
The pandemic saw medical and paramedical staff intensifying their work activity on the frontlines of the biggest global health crisis of our time.
As a result, healthcare practitioners experienced heightened levels of depression, anxiety, stress, sleep quality impairment and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Stressors in the medical profession include physical isolation, a surge in care demands,
scarcity of critical resources
like personal protective equipment (PPE), ongoing risk of infection and
financial hardship or worry.
In the Survey on Health Care Workers’ Experiences During the Pandemic, the three most commonly reported job impacts were:
From burnout to exhaustion to moral distress, healthcare practitioners are facing deteriorating mental health, with the COVID-19 pandemic worsening existing pain points in the healthcare system.
If you think you might be experiencing depression, the information, tips and tools below may help.
Depression can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and
can decrease your ability to function
at work and at home. As a healthcare practitioner, you might be accustomed to assessing symptoms in others –
it may be more of a challenge to spot your own. Here are some depression symptoms to look out for, which can
range from mild
to severe:
Feeling sad or having
a depressed mood
Loss of interest or pleasure
in activities once enjoyed
Changes in appetite – weight loss
or gain unrelated to dieting
Trouble sleeping or
sleeping too much
Loss of energy or
increased fatigue
Increase in purposeless
physical activity (e.g.,
hand-wringing or pacing)
or slowed movements and
speech (actions observable
by others)
Feeling worthless
or guilty
Difficulty thinking, concentrating
or making decisions
Thoughts of death
or suicide
Depression is often accompanied by
anxiety symptoms, such as:
Feeling keyed up or tense
Being unusually restless
Having difficulty concentrating because of worry
Fear that something awful may happen
Being afraid of losing control
If you’re a healthcare practitioner, you likely have a desire to help relieve other people’s
suffering. But there can be a
cost to caring for others and supporting them through their emotional
pain.
This is called compassion fatigue.
The COVID-19 pandemic may
have increased your risk of experiencing compassion fatigue due to the influx
of very sick patients,
bed and staff shortages, lack of resources like ventilators and PPE and added
personal risk.
The symptoms of compassion fatigue can make it more challenging for you to provide patient care and perform your work duties.
Look out for the following warning signs:
Do you feel unable to do the right thing? Like your values are being compromised? Do you feel like you’re unable to be the professional you know you should be?
As a healthcare practitioner, you may be forced to make ethical decisions, like choosing who receives which
level of
care, depending on the resources available. Being faced with a situation
you can’t change or one
that’s at odds with your personal or professional value system can lead to moral
distress.
To manage moral distress, try asking for support from colleagues, mentors and peer support groups, meeting
with your department to share decision-making
and debriefing with your team when morally charged
situations occur. You can also try reaching out to an ethicist to
work through the situation.
Reflect on your feelings at transition points during your day
By putting yourself first and focusing on managing your depression, you will be better equipping yourself to care for your patients.
It’s easy to let yourself get distracted, but so important to take care of yourself first, before taking care of others.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help from coworkers, family or friends to help balance things while you focus on yourself.
Working toward specific goals can help you live the life you want while managing depression. You may start with setting one small goal to accomplish each day (e.g., writing down 3-5 things you’re grateful for in a journal or going to sleep an hour earlier than usual). Ask yourself, "What's one thing I can do today that helps me get closer to where I want to be?" Once you become more confident, you can work on accomplishing larger, more long-term goals. Think of the short-term goals you set as stepping-stones to your larger recovery goal.
To help you figure out what goals to set, think about:
Short-term goal ideas
Long-term goal ideas
Download this form to help keep track of your short- and long-term goals.
Download this helpful journal to help keep track of your symptoms.
Here are some helpful online resources for managing depression in healthcare practitioners.
Canadian Medical Association. Sound Mind podcast.
cma.ca/physician-wellness-hub/sound-mind-podcast
Canadian Medical Association. Virtual peer support.
cma.ca/physician-wellness-hub/wellness-connection
Canadian Medical Association. Powering your wellness.
cma.ca/physician-wellness-hub/physicians
Canadian Medical Association. Pandemic wellness toolkit.
cma.ca/physician-wellness-hub/pandemic-wellness-toolkit
CAMH. Resources for health care workers during
COVID-19.
camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-health-and-covid-19/information-for-professionals
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. Depression resources and support.
ontarioshores.ca/resources-support/self-help-resources/depression-resources-and-support
Dr. Mélanie Joanisse. Psychological first aid for frontline health care providers during COVID-19.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Du1uWFE6v7DsO5k0PiKV5j2cZF_MiVnu/view
Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care. Frontline Wellness.
waypointcentre.ca/programs_and_services/frontline_wellness_program
Please note that Lundbeck is not responsible for the content and management of the websites mentioned above.
For more information about depression and its treatment, or to find help and resources, you can refer to the following websites:
MOOD DISORDERS SOCIETY OF CANADA
CENTRE FOR ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH
camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx
CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
cmha.ca/document-category/mental-health
http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/factsheet/depression
MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION OF CANADA
mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/
GOVERNMENT OF QUEBEC
https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/mental-health-mental-illness/depression
Please note that Lundbeck is not responsible for the content and management of the websites mentioned above.
The Be There Certificate is a learning experience aimed at providing you with the knowledge, skills and confidence to safely support anyone who may be struggling with their mental health.
Be There Certificate
Please note that Lundbeck is not responsible for the content and management of the website mentioned above.
We hope you find this information helpful. Don’t hesitate to discuss any questions or concerns that you have about MDD and depression.
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