Editor's Note: This article was adapted from a blog posted by the author, Pamela Wible, MD. It is being published on Medscape with the permission of the author. Dr Wible notes that she was once a suicidal physician. Now an expert in medical student and physician suicide prevention, she hosts physician retreats to help her colleagues heal from grief and reclaim their careers.
Standing on the edge of his hotel balcony, a doctor describes the rolling hills. He tells me, "It's a beautiful place to die." Ten minutes later, he agrees not to injure himself—for now.
I'm not running a physician suicide hotline. But doctors keep calling me.
It's midnight and I'm speaking to a psychiatry intern. Bullied by residents and her attending, she cries, "I've lost my self-confidence. I'm depressed. On psych meds now. But I don't feel better."
Then a fourth-year medical student shares a similar story. "I was normal before med school. Now I'm so afraid. I can't go on," she sobs.
[For more of this story, written by Pamela L. Wible, go to http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/839916]
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