Physicians' "Learned Helplessness"

Physicians' "Learned Helplessness": " An important article on Medscape General Medicine, by a lawyer, of all people, suggested how physicians have developed 'learned helplessness.' [Bond C. The training of the 'helpless' physician. Medscape General Medicine 2007; 9(3):47.] Bond had two causative hypothesis on how this happened.

First, medical schools and post-graduate training programs do not teach physicians how to cope with the current health care environment.

More importantly, Medical training is inculcating a culture among physicians that may be deepening their woes and contributing to the decline of the profession.

Helplessness can be trained into individuals when, regardless of repeated best efforts that should be rewarded, no reward is forthcoming; as a result, the individual eventually learns to give up and sinks into a lonely feeling of futility and malaise. It would appear that collectively the medical profession has mastered this art and is suffering the symptoms en masse."

This is why so many doctors don't want their children to become doctors !