Even Psychiatrists Need Mental Rest

Asahi Shimbun Morning Edition, December 19, 1998

What we now commonly know as "burnout syndrome" originally emerged among nurses in the United States. Medical staff who treat patients with incurable diseases like neuromuscular disorders or cancer face considerable stress, especially when their efforts don’t lead to recovery.

Reports indicate that the professions with the highest suicide rates include police officers, lawyers, and doctors. Jobs that involve judgment, punishment, or life-and-death decisions are constantly stressful. Even if one's work gives a strong sense of purpose, stress can still lead to conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.

Doctors take vacations during holidays like Obon and New Year’s, but when a primary doctor is away for even a week, patients often feel anxious. In the case of acute illnesses, a well-established emergency system or network can provide 24-hour care. However, for chronic illnesses where patients rely on a specific doctor, there’s no clear solution for covering their absence.

There is a movie that touches on the relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient during a vacation. The original title translates directly as “What About Bob?”, but in Japan it was released under the comically irreverent title “Otsumu Ten Ten Clinic” (1991). The Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss plays the psychiatrist.

Dreyfuss's character is about to take a two-week summer vacation with his family and entrusts his patient Bob—who has obsessive-compulsive disorder—to a colleague.

However, Bob becomes anxious about everything, anywhere, at any time, and insists on contacting his primary psychiatrist. Unable to accept a substitute, he goes to great lengths to track down his doctor, who is staying with his family by a lakeside, and shows up uninvited.

The intrusion ruins the vacation, and the doctor becomes increasingly stressed, nearing a mental breakdown. Ironically, Bob, the patient, improves and ends up going to medical school to become a psychiatrist himself in this slapstick comedy. For actual psychiatrists, it might be too real to laugh at.

Today, as mental health gains greater importance and psychiatrists are increasingly called upon in workplaces and schools, we must not overlook the mental well-being of psychiatrists themselves.

Whether this essay makes an impact will likely be put to the test once the New Year holiday ends.