Are there statistics on the number of suicides in the medical profession compared to other professions? Yesterday, we lost another brilliant young primary care physician, an MD deeply loved by his patients.
Very much yes, it's hundreds of percent higher, on the order of three or 400% higher than the general population, I have a couple other articles on that topic, but it wasn't the focus of the day.
One of my favorite facts about narcissistic personality disorder is that it is highly heritable. It's become fashionable in popular media to blame others for "narcissistic abuse," often by family members, and leave out the important fact that 0.71 of the variance is explained by genetics. That is to say, narcissistic personality disorder is more highly heritable than depression, more heritable than borderline personality disorder, it's one of the more highly heritability conditions we have in medicine.
I'm not a big fan of blaming other people for your problems, no matter what they are, but this particular problem is highly likely to be a problem for everybody involved. People tend to related to this one disorder like it's an accusation, as opposed to how we relate to every other disorder, which is to think about someone needing help. If we perhaps think of NPD like we think of literally every other medical disorder, it might change how we feel, inside come on no matter who we are, and no matter how related we are to the person in question. I don't have warm feelings about heart disease either. But I don't hate people who have heart disease.
It's a lot harder to be compassionate for people who are cruel to you. On the upside, a focus on developing effective treatments for individuals who suffer in a way that makes them nasty? Think of all the benefits for the rest of us!
Are there statistics on the number of suicides in the medical profession compared to other professions? Yesterday, we lost another brilliant young primary care physician, an MD deeply loved by his patients.
Very much yes, it's hundreds of percent higher, on the order of three or 400% higher than the general population, I have a couple other articles on that topic, but it wasn't the focus of the day.
For a clinic down in Texas, unfortunately, it is.
It's a plague on the house of medicine.
Also, I just recommended your newsletter to a person I love who thinks a family member of theirs is actually an undiagnosed narcissist.
One of my favorite facts about narcissistic personality disorder is that it is highly heritable. It's become fashionable in popular media to blame others for "narcissistic abuse," often by family members, and leave out the important fact that 0.71 of the variance is explained by genetics. That is to say, narcissistic personality disorder is more highly heritable than depression, more heritable than borderline personality disorder, it's one of the more highly heritability conditions we have in medicine.
WOW. Did not know.
I'm not a big fan of blaming other people for your problems, no matter what they are, but this particular problem is highly likely to be a problem for everybody involved. People tend to related to this one disorder like it's an accusation, as opposed to how we relate to every other disorder, which is to think about someone needing help. If we perhaps think of NPD like we think of literally every other medical disorder, it might change how we feel, inside come on no matter who we are, and no matter how related we are to the person in question. I don't have warm feelings about heart disease either. But I don't hate people who have heart disease.
It's just a lot harder if they're mean AF.
It's a lot harder to be compassionate for people who are cruel to you. On the upside, a focus on developing effective treatments for individuals who suffer in a way that makes them nasty? Think of all the benefits for the rest of us!
FOR REAL.
This helps a little. Thank you for having (and sharing) this unfortunate knowledge.
Thank you for being a wonderful person.
🥹
You’re right .
It was their brain . Their brain making a decision not to suffer anymore .
My friend ,an educated young man jumped from a thousand foot tower .
He didn’t want anyone to resurrect him .
The whirling mass of noise & pain in his mind finally won .
He believed in God.
He tried many medications .
Still he was tormented …
Leaving all of us perplexed , angry ,grieving …finally accepting .
Life itself is a great mystery.
This tragedy has cemented my belief in the only ONE Who gets it ..God.
Thank you for reading, and for bearing witness.