‘If you're crying this much you shouldn't be a consultant’: the lived experience of UK doctors in training with mental illness*

AbstractThere is some disagreement in the literature whether doctors in training suffer more from mental illness than an age-matched population. However, mental illness among doctors in training is a cause for concern because of the dual problems of reticence about accessing help and the clinical risk of doctors practising while mentally ill. The belief that is widely held among doctors in training is that to disclose a mental illness would be seen as weakness and may damage their career. A biographical narrative interview technique was used that enables the informant to tell the story of a painful episode in their lives in their own way and in their own words. Interviews were transcribed, and a thematic framework developed by consensus and then used to analyse all of the narrative interview data. Four major themes were detected: (1) Doing the job while ill, (2) Sick leave (initiating, being on, returning from), (3) Interaction with the employer; and (4) Sources of support. Practising while mentally ill c...