Mental Health
Mental health difficulties amongst legal professionals can range from mild encumbrances to debilitating medical conditions that threaten a person’s livelihood and life. Indeed, there is no way to overstate the profound impact that stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, and mental illness can have on an attorney or judge’s well-being. The outcome can be devastating: attorneys are six times more likely than the general population to complete suicide, and have the fifth-highest rate of suicide by profession.
Like many professionals, attorneys and judges (and law students) experience a high degree of work-related stress. The adversarial process means that relationships between attorneys are often high-conflict, and the immense workload may leave little time to spend with loved ones, friends, or on hobbies. Accordingly, attorneys, judges, and law students often experience one or more of the following:
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Depression
- Seasonal affective disorder
- Stress
- Burnout/overwhelm
- Long-term effects of trauma
In addition to the above, attorneys and judges are just as susceptible as the general public to diagnosed or diagnosable mental illnesses or behavioral conditions, such as:
- Clinical or major depression
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Bipolar disorder
- ADHD
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Other compulsive behavior such as disordered eating, gambling addiction, or sexual addiction
Lawyers and judges on the autism spectrum or who are otherwise neurodiverse may also experience difficulties in their work and personal life due to lack of resources or insufficient understanding or support from the people around them.
If you would like to discuss your or another person’s mental health or well-being, or to find out more about treatment or resources, please call or text MAP’s 24/7 confidential helpline at (207) 266-5951. Help is available!
