Job dissatisfaction Depression is a factor impacting suicide, and those choosing to join the veterinary profession may have predisposed personalities
that ultimately lead to depression, say Bartram and Baldwin. "It is possible that the choice of a veterinary career is subconsciously influenced by factors such as a preference for working
with animals rather than people, with consequential influences on the risk of depressive illness through relative social isolation,"
the article says. Regret also is apparent through the profession; Baldwin and Bartram cite a study revealing that, while 53 percent of practicing
veterinarians would still enter the profession knowing what they know now, 20 percent would not and 27 percent were not sure.
This disenchantment of almost half of those surveyed most likely has a negative impact on the profession's overall mental
health, according to the article. "There is a need for veterinarians to recognize mental-health problems in themselves and to seek help before the problems
become chronic and potentially destabilizing," Baldwin and Bartram say. Surviving with stress More than 80 percent of UK veterinary surgeons surveyed consider the profession to be stressful — specifically citing long
working hours, client expectations, unexpected clinical outcomes, after-hours on-call duties, peer, manager and client relationships,
lack of resources, emotional exhaustion, inadequate professional support, personal finances, the possibility of client complaints
or litigation and making professional mistakes as key stressors. "Most new veterinary graduates move abruptly from the university environment to the relative professional and social isolation
of general private practice. Many work with little supervision, do not always have access to assistance from other veterinary
colleagues and make professional mistakes, which have a considerable emotional impact on themselves and may be a significant
factor in the development of suicidal thoughts," says the article. Perceived and actual stress is alarming, with Baldwin and Bartram noting an association between work stress and suicide rates,
and a study reporting one-third of students at a U.S. veterinary school showing symptoms of depression. Until Bartram's study is complete, the true reasons behind the DVM suicide risk and rate remain murky and inferential at best.
"It might merely be that veterinarians have greater and less restricted access to medicines, or the 'culture of death' in
the profession, which is familiarity with and acceptance of euthanasia, or some inherent difference in the psychological characteristics
of individuals entering the profession. It might be all or none of these. No one knows," Bartram says.
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