Suicide Of Physicians

Abstract

Suicide is the act of taking one’s own life intentionally. Suicides occur in people with mental disorders or medical illnesses as well as in healthy individuals who have hopelessness and desperate thoughts related to life conditions. Suicide rates among physicians are higher than those of other professionals in United States. Previous studies indicated that physicians who commit suicide suffer from a mental illness generally. A common suicide method of physicians is drug overdose and in addition using firearms is less common than general population. Physicians having more information and easy access to drugs play a major role. A previous study showed that risk of losing their medical license, fear of discrimination prevents physicians from asking help for suicide treatment. Suicide rate is 35 % among early death reasons of physicians. Suicide is responsible for 3 % of male physician deaths and 6.5 % of female physicians’ deaths. A lot of hypothesis exists for explaining suicides of physicians which are psychiatric diseases, alcohol and drug abuse, stress of medical applications, unreal expectations, role confusions, lack of professional support, resistance to psychiatric treatment, personality characteristics and psychosocial factors. In conclusion, stigma, licensing concerns and other barriers to treatment should be overcome

Keywords

• Medical doctor, suicide, mental illness

Hekim intiharları

Öz

İntihar, insanın bilerek ve isteyerek yaşamına son vermesidir. İntihar ağır ruhsal ve bedensel hastalıkları olan kişilerde görülebildiği gibi, zorlu yaşam koşullarına karşı çaresizlik ve umutsuzluk tepkisi veren normal bireylerde de görülebilir. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde mesleki sıralama içerisinde intihar bakımından hekimler ön sıralarda bulunmaktadır. Çalışmalar, tamamlanmış hekim intiharlarında genellikle altta yatan bir psikiyatrik bozukluğun olduğunu göstermektedir. Hekimler sıklıkla aşırı dozda maddeyle intihar eylemini gerçekleştirmekteyken genel topluma kıyasla daha az ateşli silah kullanmaktadır. Hekim intiharlarında ilaçlara kolay ulaşabilme ve ilaçlarla ilgili bilgiye sahip olmaları önemli rol oynar. Bir çalışmada hekimlerin depresyon, intihar ve tedavi açısından yardım almasına engel olan faktörler: tıbbi lisanslarının tehlikeye girmesi çekincesi, mesleki gelişim ve yetkileri konusunda ayrımcılığa maruz kalma korkusu olarak saptanmıştır. Hekimlerin erken ölüm nedenleri arasında intihar %35 oranında sorumlu tutulmuştur. ABD’de erkek hekimlerin %3, kadın hekimlerin %6,5 oranında ölüm sebebi intihardır. Hekim intiharlarını açıklamak üzere birçok hipotez kurulmuştur. Bunlar arasında psikiyatrik hastalıklar, alkol ve madde kötüye kullanımı, tıbbi uygulamaların stres oluşturması, gerçekçi olmayan beklentiler, rol karmaşası, profesyonel destek azlığı, hekimlerin yetersiz psikiyatrik tedavisi, psikiyatrik tedaviye direnç, kişilik özellikleri ve psikososyal faktörler sayılabilir. Sonuç olarak, stigma, mesleki kaygılar ve tedavi önündeki diğer engellerin üstesinden gelinmesi gerekmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Hekim, intihar, ruhsal hastalık

Kaynakça

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