Seeking Mental Health Treatment Is Sign of Strength
With law students returning to the classrooms shortly, if not already, now’s a good time to remind all the future law graduates and attorneys the importance of taking care of your mental health.
The National Conference of Bar Examiners recently released its summer issue of The Bar Examiner magazine, and in it, included an article ("The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being: More Progress Needed in Fostering Help-Seeking among Law Students") summarizing some specific results from the 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being.
The 2021 Survey, a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 2014, was administered as an anonymous and voluntary survey at 39 U.S. law schools in the spring of 2021. The study was conducted by David Jaffe (American University - Washington College of Law), Dr. Katherine Bender (Bridgewater State University and David Nee Foundation), and Jerome M. Organ (University of St. Thomas - School of Law (Minnesota)), with financial assistance from AccessLex Institute.
One of the more important findings in the study relates to respondents’ reluctance to seek help for mental health issues despite an increasing need to do so.
The percentage of respondents who had a diagnosis of depression at any point was 33% in 2021, up from 18% in 2014. The percentage of respondents who had a diagnosis of anxiety at any point was 40% in 2021, almost double from the 21% in 2014. And more than 80% of those with a diagnosis of depression or anxiety were diagnosed before coming to law school.
The top six factors discouraging respondents from seeking help for substance use or mental health issues were: (1st) potential threat to bar admission – 60%; (2nd) potential threat to job or academic status – 59%; (3rd) financial reasons – 46%; (4th) concerns about privacy – 41%; (5th) social stigma – 39%; and (6th) the belief that they could handle the problem themselves – 38%.
These factors aren’t too surprising. Personally, these factors were almost all the same reasons I tried to justify to myself for not getting help when I started my law school education more than a quarter century ago.
But I was wrong not seeking assistance back in law school. And I don’t want any law student to make the same mistake I made.
I eventually wrote about my struggles with mental health in law school in the American Bar Association's Student Lawyer magazine for its “I Wish I’d Known” column.
Here’s the link to the full column: https://bit.ly/3bUM9tJ
It’s a quick read, and if you’re a law student, I encourage you to spend a few minutes to read the column in its entirety.
Don't have a few minutes? Here's the main takeaway: “Seeking mental health treatment is sign of strength that represents courage, awareness, and proactive measures to prevent a worsening situation.”
