272: Preventing + Addressing Physician Suicide with Dr. Michael Myers

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews a guest who is talking about a very important subject that is somewhat taboo in Western culture: physician suicide. If you caught episodes 263 and 264 with Dr. Gail Gazelle on physician burnout, you understand that the stress doctors experience in their professional lives can lead to a host of emotional and physical symptoms, including depression and risk of suicide.

In today's conversation, Dr. Myers discusses this phenomenon and how it can be prevented. Whether or not you are a therapist or other helping professional, you'll find this is a very important and sensitive subject which Michael Myers describes in a down to earth and relatable way.

Dr Michael F. Myers, author of Becoming a Doctor's Doctor, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and recent past Vice-Chair of Education and Director of Training in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at SUNY-Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, NY. He is the author or co-author of eight other books, including Why Physicians Die By Suicide, The Handbook of Physician Health and Doctors’ Marriages. His publications also include more than 150 articles covering such topics as marital therapy, men and reproductive technology, divorce, sexual assault of women and men, AIDS, the stigma of psychiatric illness, gender issues in training and medical practice, the treatment of medical students and physicians, boundary-crossing in the doctor-patient relationship, and ethics in medical education and suicide. He has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching and has served on the editorial boards of several medical journals. Along with his continuing clinical research, teaching and outreach in the field of suicide, Dr. Myers is a recent past President of the New York City Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Myers lectures widely throughout North America and beyond on these subjects. 

Resources

Guest's website:

http://www.michaelfmyers.com/index.htm

ICYMI, episode 263 with Dr. Gail Gazelle is here

And episode 264, part 2 with Dr. Gail Gazelle is here.

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