Help Me! I'm a Doctor
Are you, as a medical practitioner, uncertain about where to go for help with your own mental health problems?
Medical practitioners experience lots of barriers to seeking help for problems with their own health. One of the biggest barriers to overcome is the feeling that you should know what’s wrong with you and what to do about it before you walk in the doctor’s door. How many doctors who say they have GPs only go to those GPs to tell them what they need doing?
When it comes to mental health problems there are a whole lot more issues to consider. If I see someone for my, let’s say - depression, what will they think of me? Will they think I’m weak-minded, lazy or professionally incompetent? Will they make me stop work or report me to the medical board?
None of these are likely and if you have a problem please seek help but, in the meantime, you might find something in the anonymity of cyberspace that can be helpful.
Online resources can provide you with diagnostic help. Diagnosing your own mental health issue is not as easy as diagnosing someone else’s.
They can also provide you with some ideas about the things you can do to help yourself. Try an online therapy program and call the Doctors Health Advisory Service in your state or territory for more help.
To find a resource that suits your needs go to www.mindhealthconnect.org.au or www.beacon.anu.edu.au
Or click here to view the on demand eMHPrac webinar Online Self Care for Doctors. The webinar is accredited for 2 QI&CPD points or 2 Core ACRRM points.
Gerhard is a full professor of Clinical Psychology at Linköping University, Sweden since 2003, an
d affiliated researcher at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Professor Andersson is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of CBT delivered through information and communication technology, as well as the author of the book “The Internet and CBT: a clinical guide”.
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