How do we make sense of the jump in physician burnout from 40% in 2021 to over 60% in 2022?
I believe we are seeing evidence of physicians' "Financial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" or Financial PTSD.
We have experienced two historic financial events in the recent past: the global economic meltdown of 2008 and the financial consequences of the COVID pandemic. Many physicians experienced an 80% reduction in income in 2020.
You know about the Paleo Diet. It's the diet that our hunter-gatherer cave-dwelling ancestors ate 2.5 million years ago.
The Paleo Brain was focussed on one main thing: safety and survival. It scanned the horizon for danger. The fight-flight-flee stress response helped escape the saber-toothed tiger. Once we were safely back on the cave, the stress switch went off.
For physicians today, money can be like the new saber-toothed tiger. When our core survival is at risk, the Paleo Brain software kicks into action; threatening financial events can trigger the fight-flight-flee response.
The problem is that our world is different than it was 2.5 million years ago. In our 24/7 news cycle, this stress response can stay on for days, weeks and even years. This is exhausting.
I believe that prolonged periods in the fight-flight-flee is a major contributor to physician burned out.
If you know anyone who grew up in the depression, you know what financial PTSD looks like. People who have millions in assets won't go on vacation because they fear that tomorrow they may be hungry or homeless. They are responding to yesterday as if it's still happening today.
Physicians with unhealed financial trauma can demonstrate financial PTSD.
Would you like to learn more about this, and see how this can shape what you say and do to engage doctors?
Join us for a complimentary training "Doctors and Financial PTSD" Thursday, April 13th at Noon Eastern/11 AM Central /9 AM Pacific. Click here to register.
My best,
Dr. Vicki
I believe we are seeing evidence of physicians' "Financial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" or Financial PTSD.
We have experienced two historic financial events in the recent past: the global economic meltdown of 2008 and the financial consequences of the COVID pandemic. Many physicians experienced an 80% reduction in income in 2020.
You know about the Paleo Diet. It's the diet that our hunter-gatherer cave-dwelling ancestors ate 2.5 million years ago.
The Paleo Brain was focussed on one main thing: safety and survival. It scanned the horizon for danger. The fight-flight-flee stress response helped escape the saber-toothed tiger. Once we were safely back on the cave, the stress switch went off.
For physicians today, money can be like the new saber-toothed tiger. When our core survival is at risk, the Paleo Brain software kicks into action; threatening financial events can trigger the fight-flight-flee response.
The problem is that our world is different than it was 2.5 million years ago. In our 24/7 news cycle, this stress response can stay on for days, weeks and even years. This is exhausting.
I believe that prolonged periods in the fight-flight-flee is a major contributor to physician burned out.
If you know anyone who grew up in the depression, you know what financial PTSD looks like. People who have millions in assets won't go on vacation because they fear that tomorrow they may be hungry or homeless. They are responding to yesterday as if it's still happening today.
Physicians with unhealed financial trauma can demonstrate financial PTSD.
Would you like to learn more about this, and see how this can shape what you say and do to engage doctors?
Join us for a complimentary training "Doctors and Financial PTSD" Thursday, April 13th at Noon Eastern/11 AM Central /9 AM Pacific. Click here to register.
My best,
Dr. Vicki