AMA VICDOC Autumn 2024 - Magazine - Page 88
to practitioners who are ill-equipped at
managing affected patients, especially
those with lower prevalence disorders such
as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and
personality disorders.
From the patient’s perspective, I have
unfortunately been on the receiving end
of stigma from colleagues and hospital
staff. I have not always been wellsupported by my senior employers, peers
and unfortunately some psychiatrists.
My illness and episodes of hospitalisation
during earlier years of training have been
gossiped about in the medical community
and I am certain that this would have been
handled far more professionally had I
suffered a physical illness. It has affected
selection in specialty matching positions
through employer bias. Having a mental
illness has not affected my intelligence nor
general competency as a doctor but I have
had to advocate hard for myself in the face
of stigma, and I continue to do so to this
very day. On a positive note, my difficult
experiences dealing with the mental
health system and stigma from colleagues
has allowed me to be a more empathic
and holistic clinician when caring for my
patients. More importantly, mental health
challenges have not stopped me from
reaching my career aspirations.
Accessing treatment through the mental
health system was not always easy. When I
was first hospitalised as a medical student,
I found it interesting that amongst my
peers of around 200 medical students and
tutors, lectures and colleagues, no-one
was able to successfully access services
to help me. These inefficiencies with
reporting, escalating and providing help
to medical students and doctors in
distress is ubiquitous across healthcare
organisations even today. I believe that
hospital organisations are well-intentioned
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but our staff simply do not have the
training nor established systems in place
to effectively deal with doctors in distress.
This requires urgent attention in order
to create safer work environments for
medical students and doctors.
In 2015, I became a mental health
advocate for SANE Australia and Beyond
Blue. I shared a national video campaign of
my story which received an overwhelming
and supportive response. Open disclosure
has allowed for widespread dialogue about
these issues. Countless doctors, nurses
and medical students have contacted me,
often in anonymity, to share their personal
struggles as they do not feel comfortable
discussing this at work due to stigma.
This demonstrates the power of
vulnerability and sharing which fosters a
culture of open communication and human
connection. It also highlights that the
medicalprofession is ready to have these
important conversations about mental
health — we just need catalysts.
Mental health can no longer be an
additive. We need to move beyond simple
initiatives such as annual mental health
days and start initiating important
conversations at a systemic level to foster
real culture change. It is critical that we
learn to speak openly about our own
difficulties and struggles, which includes
our clinical mistakes. Many people have
commented that I am brave for openly
disclosing my personal struggles. I want
to see a medical profession where open
disclosure is so commonplace that it is
considered the norm. Mental health affects
all of us, regardless of whether we receive
a diagnostic label, and we need to give this
issue the attention and credit it deserves
so that we can influence a real culture
change in medicine and how it is perceived
for future generations.
