Doctors may fear losing their license for seeking mental health care

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. physicians are reluctant to seek mental health care out of fear that it might imperil their medical license, a recent study suggests.

The reluctance was more pronounced in states where licensing applications questioned doctors about mental health conditions going back more than a year. Physicians in those states were at least 20 percent more likely to report they would be reluctant to seek psychological treatment than doctors in states that asked only about current impairment.

Each state has its own process for licensing doctors. The Federation of State Medical Boards advises licensure boards not to ask about mental health history and indicates that doing so might violate the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Dyrbye and her colleagues note.

“Our own licensing system is creating a barrier to getting help,” said IHPI member Katherine Gold, a U-M professor who was not directly involved with the new research. “Physicians are appropriately afraid they could lose their license or have restrictions on their license. So of course they are hesitant to seek care.”

Doctors’ hesitation to seek psychological and psychiatric treatment is particularly worrisome, she said, because prior research has shown that doctors, as a group, suffer high rates of depression and suicide.

“We should be doing everything possible to reduce stigma and encourage physicians to get the exact same care we would prescribe to our own patients,” said Gold.