Whether you are experiencing feelings of suicide or are worried about another, help is available. If you think someone needs help or you are in a crisis, don’t wait:
- Call or text: 988
- Chat at org
- Call the Physician Support Line at 888-409-0141
September is recognized as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and Sunday, September 17, is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day. The month and the day are both a reminder and a call to action, so that physicians’ struggles don’t become mental health emergencies.
Together, health workers can shift the paradigm from a system where physicians think that burnout, depression, or suicidal thoughts are something they must overcome by themselves to one where they see that they have a support system willing and able to help them seek mental health care.
Refresh yourself on the vital signs for prevention. Prevention begins with understanding the warning signs to look for in someone who may be suicidal. Use the HEART acronym to remember:
- Health: Increasing the use of medications and/or alcohol to illicit drugs; Talking about wanting to hurt themselves or die
- Emotions: Experiencing extreme mood swings; Feeling hopeless or having no purpose
- Attitude: Being negative about professional and personal list; Having inappropriate outbursts of anger or sadness
- Relationships: Withdrawing or isolating themselves from family, friends, and coworkers; Talking about being a burden to others
- Temperament: Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly; Being uncomfortable, tired or in unbearable pain
For more information and resources on suicide awareness and prevention, visit the ACS Surgeon Well-being web page.
All levels of the society and the health system can and must engage to reduce the stigma of mental health and death by suicide. At a local level, join in your community for an Out of the Darkness Walk hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Step into a growing movement of people who walk for a loved one lost, people who walk in support of someone struggling, people who walk for themselves, and people who walk to connect with others who understand their and others’ struggles. Find a walk in your state.
Federal legislators are taking note of the professional challenges that physicians with mental health issues can face. Earlier this year, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), and Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting that it extend its investigations of offenses under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) to include the practices of state medical license boards. They are urging the DOJ to investigate state medical boards’ compliance with the ADA and issue guidance on statute 28 C.F.R. § 35.130, which directs that state medical boards cannot ask inappropriate medical licensing and application questions that relate to mental health.
