The Legal Profession’s Mental Health Crisis

The legal profession is experiencing a full-blown mental health crisis and the data around this assessment continue to be disturbing: one in three lawyers have or have had depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addictions, and suicidal thoughts/attempts; 33% misuse substances regularly; and the profession has the fifth-highest suicide rate. For women, recent studies peg the profession as having the second-highest suicide rate which signals a significant additional gender variable that should be identified and addressed.

This mental health crisis extends to students in law schools and the numbers, according to the Dave Nee Foundation, are just as alarming: one in four have a diagnosable mental illness; depression among law students is 8-9% prior to matriculation and this increases to 27% after one semester, 34% after two semesters and 40% after three years; stress among law students has been measured at 96% compared to 70% among medical students and 43% among general graduate students; 80% of students report being overwhelmed and 50% blame poor academic performance on high levels of anxiety; and 40% struggle silently before experiencing a mental health emergency.

Why?

Attorneys are not immune from mental health issues. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that more than 46M adults in the United States experience mental illness in any given year – that’s 1 in 5 people. NAMI estimates that serious mental illness costs more than $193B in lost earnings each year. The societal and financial costs are devastating to the country and become catastrophic when substance abuse and/or suicide enter the picture. While these numbers are tough to swallow, they are worse for the legal profession and the sector is beginning to notice.

The reasons for the legal profession’s mental health crisis are likely as varied as the individual attorneys who practice law. By profession, none other is as adversarial and competitive by nature. Professional success and failure are measured by wins and losses, billable hours, and often, whether you get your name on the firm’s door and letterhead. By profession, other than medicine, no other usually comes with a briefcase of tremendous student debt, overwhelming responsibility for protecting clients and their assets, and the often-forgotten primary goal of upholding the Constitution and ensuring Justice is done. By humanity, attorneys are daughters, sons, wives, husbands, partners, parents, employees, employers, caretakers and community members. Attorneys struggle with shifting personal and professional priorities, and making major sacrifices, either way, could threaten one’s mental health and challenge existing coping strategies. It is very easy to find oneself spiraling out of control as they fall down a rabbit hole.

The Good News

Fortunately, the needle is moving in a positive direction. Society and the legal profession have recognized, are studying, and are making efforts to address the problem. The American Bar Association (ABA) convened a National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and submitted its report with recommendations in November 2018. In addition, the ABA’s Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession launched a campaign that seeks to improve the legal profession’s mental health and substance abuse landscape. The August edition of the NYS Bar Association Journal features mental health and wellness issues. Law.com is conducting a yearlong investigation into the legal profession’s mental health issues in order to bring new light to a previously dark topic. For a decade, Dan Lukasik has been powerfully educating the sector by sharing his own story of becoming successful in the legal profession while simultaneously living with and receiving treatment for major depression.

For law students, Harvard Law School, among others, have committed to wellness initiatives, Yale Law School conducted one of the most comprehensive studies done on this topic on their students’ mental health issues, and other institutions are developing and implementing programs that will help their students succeed.

It is critical that attorneys and their families and co-workers be aware that mental health services are available and more times than not, their conditions are treatable. KeyBridge Systems’ Private Practice Psychotherapy Services is one of many organizations that offer licensed professionals trained to address mental health issues to prevent disruptions in aspects of daily life – thoughts, behaviors, relationships, job performance, and physical health.

Three Keys to Improving Mental Health & Wellness

• Seek help to address symptoms of depression and anxiety before they affect your relationships and impact your career trajectory. When possible, combine counseling with new technologies, like KeyBridge Systems’ P2 program, to make your mental health treatment more effective and efficient. And once the crisis has abated and you feel better, keep connected to your mental health counselor and schedule regular mental health checkups.
• Recognize and Celebrate personal and professional accomplishments, and find ways to meaningfully connect (in non-legal ways) with the community through volunteerism.
• Start young attorneys on the right mental health footing – Law schools should embrace an overall mental health and wellness culture at their institutions to remove barriers that negatively impact academic performance, likelihood of graduation, and bar exam passage rates while simultaneously cementing good mental and physical health habits that have no expiration date.

Until next time,

Rob

Rob Greenberger is President of KeyBridge Systems which was created to improve individual and organizational wellness. KeyBridge works directly with people to address issues related to their mental health and wellness, develops systems and tools to improve the effectiveness of behavioral health interventions and treatment, and provides business consulting services to mission-driven organizations interested in stepping up their game.