Dr. Helgi Johannsson on mental health in medicine, how to process trauma as a doctor, and how mentors can model healthy coping mechanisms.

Mental health issues among physicians are a silent and global epidemic. In 2021, the British Medical Association reported that nearly two-thirds of doctors in the UK have anxiety or depression. Each year in the US, roughly 300-400 doctors die by suicide. Studies have shown that suicide rates among doctors were 2-3 times higher than the general population in both the US and the UK. Nearly half of junior doctors and 1 in 3 GPs are considering leaving the profession, with the top reason being burnout.  

And its not only in the West that there is a crisis in the medical field: in Lebanon, for example, thousands of doctors have left the country amidst its political and economic collapse, with those remaining suffering from trauma, PTSD, and other severe mental health challenges. 

To learn how physicians can cope with such extreme pressure, I spoke with distinguished anaesthetist (or anaesthesiologist, for listeners in the US) Dr. Helgi Johannsson, the vice president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in the UK, who’s worked to save the lives of victims in some of London's most traumatic events over the past three decades, including the Grenfell Towers fire, the London Bridge terrorist attack, and the anti-LGBTQ attack in the 1990s. We talked about the impact of such events on the mental health of healthcare workers, including his own, and the importance of resilience, finding healthy coping mechanisms, and how to create a supportive culture in healthcare, while breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

Bio:

Dr. Helgi Johannsson has been a consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College Healthcare since 2007, having trained at St Bartholomew’s, then anaesthetic training in North and East London. His clinical work is based at St Mary’s and Hammersmith hospitals and includes a wide variety of disciplines, including trauma care, oesophagogastric surgery, obstetrics, and bariatrics. He is also the Vice President of The Royal College of Anaesthetists in the United Kingdom and the Medical Director for medical education at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Episode Resources:

Personal blog: https://www.drhelgi.com/ 

The Royal College of Anaesthetists: https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/doctorhelgi 

Articles: 

“This is just not safe for anyone”: the NHS doctors at breaking point. The New Statesman. https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/healthcare/2022/08/underpaid-overworked-nhs-doctors-healthcare-mental-health

My life as a specialty Anaesthetist: Dr Helgi Johannsson. Messly.com https://www.messly.com/blog/messly-specialty-interviews-anaesthetics 

Helgi Johannsson: Let’s talk about death. The British Medical Journal (BMJ Opinion). 

https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/04/30/helgi-johannsson-lets-talk-about-death/ 

Doctor who treated Grenfell Tower victims: seeing so many burned children deeply affected me. The Evening Standard

Mind/work is currently on a post-summer hiatus and recording even more great conversations for you. Join us for when we return on Oct 18th. In the meantime, you can find episode clips and tell us what you want to hear on the show on social media (@mindworkshow). See you in October!

Mind/work is a show where we’re exploring mental health in the workplace, one story at a time. I’ve worked in some of the most stressful environments in the world and I’ve seen and felt the toll people and organizations pay when mental health is not prioritized.

At Mind/work, we believe that a healthy workplace is the cornerstone of a healthy society. And that’s why Mind/work is not just a show; it’s a mission to transform workplaces into healthier and more productive spaces. Most importantly, its a community of people committed to sharing and implementing good mental health practices in their workplaces and beyond.

So join us as we pull back the curtain on issues we all face at work, but rarely discuss out loud. From national security and the military, to conflict journalism, activism, medicine, sports, tech and more, we’ll uncover the stories, struggles and lessons around mental health at work—and how we can all work together towards a stronger, healthier workplace.

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