How to handle stress and look after your mental health.

Twenty years ago Firth-Cozens reported that among doctors in their first year of graduating 50% were estimated to have emotional disturbance and 28% fulfilled criteria for depression. Since then, working hours have decreased, and the way that doctors are trained and managed has changed substantially. Despite this, the proportion of doctors experiencing psychological distress has remained constant, at about 28%, compared with about 18% in the general working population. 3 For junior doctors, 79% of those caught up in the recent problems of MTAS (the UK medical training application service, an online system for the selection of junior doctors) scored above the threshold for psychological distress and 21% had significant distress. Psychiatric morbidity and burnout among hospital specialists in theUK are also increasing, rising between 1994 and 2002 from 27% to 32% and from 32% to 41% respectively. The four fictitious case scenario boxes illustrate a typical experience of a junior doctor becoming increasingly stressed.