Ask a group of dentists about what the ‘elephant in the room’ is in the dental profession and many of them will talk about competition, poor relations with their regulators, long hours, bad management and high stress in the workplace. Few of them will openly talk about mental health. Its not a solitary problem – many highly trained professions struggle silently with poor mental health, high rates of depression and suicide, and other physical and economic issues caused by mental health problems.
Considering the work that the dental profession does with patients, children, high powered equipment, and long hours, dentistry can be a very stressful profession to be in.
I’m sure everyone has had a bad boss, or at least knows someone who’s had a bad boss. Bad management is such an old story that nobody is really surprised anymore when an article or paper comes out talking about the effect of bad management in the UK workplace. But just how widespread is the problem? In 2012, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills released a paper which noted that 43 per cent of employees thought their own manager was ‘ineffective’. Another key finding was an estimate that bad management was costing UK businesses more than £19bn in lost productivity.
The Institute of Leadership and Management surveyed 750 workplaces in 2012 to “identify the challenges they face in recruiting and developing skilled leaders and managers”. In plain English, how hard is it to hire or train management?
If anything, the ILM results were even more striking. Ninety three per cent of the surveyed employers said that “low levels” of management were adversely affecting their business. However just 18 per cent expected managers to have training before taking on a management role.
What does that have to do with the dental profession? Well, imagine if only 18 per cent of dental practices expected dentists to be trained, and then 93 per cent of them complained that the resulting dentists weren’t very
good.
Psychology
One of the problems professionals have is a little psychological issue called ‘impostor syndrome’. You probably all
knew it as a new grad – it’s that nagging feeling you’re just impersonating a snake oil salesman. The impostor syndrome (or fraud syndrome) is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to accept their accomplishments.
If you make a brilliant diagnosis or perform a tricky extraction perfectly you ignore it and call it luck, or good timing. In some cases individuals even congratulate themselves at having fooled their colleagues into thinking they’re good! The great British habit of self-effacement doesn’t help in this regard. It is often considered crass to ‘take credit’ or ‘brag’ and so some young dentists struggle to accept they’ve done a good job.
Of course sometimes things will go wrong. Professional responsibility means it’s your job to find out what went wrong and take steps to prevent it happening again. Sometimes it will be because you did something wrong, sometimes the error will be your colleague’s. Often when a problem occurs individuals stew in silence, unwilling to admit that they’re worried, swallowing the heartburn tablets, wondering if their colleagues can read their mind and psychically judge them.
What can you do about poor mental health if it’s you that’s suffering? First off, and cliché though it may sound don’t bottle it in. As career adviser Janet Matta explained: “Emotions are like shampoo in your suitcase. You put some pressure on them and they will come out, no matter how tightly you think you twisted up that bottle. They will spill all over the place and you will be a disgusting mess.”
Talk to your friends, or colleagues you trust. Contrary to what you believe, they do care, and they aren’t glad it’s happening to you. If you’re constantly feeling down, grumpy, tired, frustrated – these could be signs that you’re under an unhealthy amount of mental stress. These are also signs you might be noticing in your colleagues; even if they insist they are fine, all might not be well.
Support4Doctors is a confidential group that can help with depression, anxiety, and addiction. Many articles and links there can give you excellent advice on what to watch out for in yourself and others.
Finally, the NHS can help – your local GP can refer you to trained counselors. Yes, you’ll probably have to take a day off work, but this is your life we’re talking about; isn’t that important?
‘Doctor, heal thyself’ is an old saying, but it’s not true. There is help available: you are not alone.
References available on request.