Institute of Environmental Medicine, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 113 65, Sweden.
Occup Med (Lond). 2023 Jun 26;73(5):243-248. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqad061.
Despite a high prevalence of mental health problems among physicians, the rate of help-seeking behaviour is low. Instead, physicians tend to self-treat. This can have a negative impact on individual physicians and society.
The aim was to explore the relationship between self-rated depression, the use of psychotropic medication, and the extent of self-treatment across gender and hierarchical position among Swedish physicians. In addition, the aim was to investigate whether social support can buffer against self-treatment.
This study draws on data from the Longitudinal Occupational Health for Health Care in Sweden 2021 study, comprising a representative sample of physicians. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were carried out.
The present study showed that approximately 60% of the physicians using narcotic or non-narcotic psychotropic medication were self-prescribing. Male and more senior physicians self-treated to a greater extent. Physicians without depression were self-treating to a greater extent than those with depression. Those who used non-narcotic psychotropic medication intermittently were more likely to self-treat than those who used these medications regularly. The frequency of use was insignificant in relation to self-treatment with narcotic psychotropic medication. No buffering effect from social support at work was found.
Self-treatment was common among physicians in Sweden, particularly among those who reported mild or no symptoms of depression. This may have negative long-term effects on an individual level and for Swedish health care at large.
尽管医生群体中精神健康问题普遍存在，但寻求帮助的行为率却很低。相反，医生往往倾向于自我治疗。这可能会对个体医生和整个社会产生负面影响。
本研究旨在探讨瑞典医生中自我评估的抑郁程度、使用精神药物与自我治疗程度之间的关系，以及这种关系在性别和层级地位上的差异。此外，本研究还旨在调查社会支持是否可以缓冲自我治疗。
本研究基于瑞典 2021 年卫生保健职业健康纵向研究的数据，该研究包含了具有代表性的医生样本。采用描述性统计和逻辑回归进行分析。
本研究表明，约 60%使用麻醉性或非麻醉性精神药物的医生存在自我处方的情况。男性和级别较高的医生自我治疗的程度更大。没有抑郁的医生比有抑郁的医生更倾向于自我治疗。间歇性使用非麻醉性精神药物的医生比经常使用这些药物的医生更有可能自我治疗。使用麻醉性精神药物的频率与自我治疗之间没有关联。工作中的社会支持没有起到缓冲作用。
瑞典的医生中自我治疗很常见，尤其是那些报告有轻度或没有抑郁症状的医生。这可能会对个体医生和整个瑞典医疗保健系统产生长期的负面影响。
