Don’t back down under stress, or if you do, learn how to bounce back in a healthy way. Building resilience is important in any profession. Any professional, let’s say any person, needs to learn resilience. Why target lawyers? His profession has one of the highest rates of depression and suicide of all professions. You may find that surprising. I found it shocking. I treat various attorneys and consult with various attorneys on their cases. While I know you tolerate a lot of abuse from clients, opposing attorneys, and the public, I didn’t realize the degree of depression present in your profession. When I look at them as clients, I see the toll this takes on the attorney and on their relationships with their friends and family. They may abuse alcohol, have affairs, or just burn out.

I began to ask: “What contributes to the lack of resilience of lawyers?” The following is an assumption. Not enough research has been done in this area. What lawyers have told me and what I have seen is that lawyers often have a hard time realizing how much stress they are under. They become desensitized to the amount of stress they experience.

daily deal with

– change the legislation,
– dissatisfied customers,
– detailed paperwork where a mistake could have disastrous consequences,
– need for billable hours,
– need to find new customers,
– advocate for managing partners, supervisors and associates
– are asked to practice in areas with which they might not be familiar,
– threats from clients and relatives of clients,

So perhaps the question is: “What keeps lawyers in the legal profession?” Attrition is high in the profession. Consider the number of books written on how to retain lawyers in the profession or how to help lawyers transition to new careers available in bookstores and libraries.

Lawyers also experience stigma from their colleagues and others if they admit to being so stressed that they are seeking help from an outside party, such as a therapist. I found out about a site for lawyers who are depressed from a client who turned out to be a lawyer. This client, who had suffered from depression for years, revealed that he could not tell anyone for fear that it would affect the success of his practice. I greatly admired the site’s creator, Daniel T. Lukasik, Esquire for his courageous act in speaking out about depression.

How can you build resilience so you don’t experience a depressive episode or an anxiety disorder? First, you need to develop an awareness of the signs of stress. The following are symptoms of stress:

· fatigue · sleep changes · irritability · apathy · loss of concentration · tension · physical symptoms, such as pain, including headaches, that have no physical cause · less desire to socialize than usual · feeling overwhelmed

These are just a few. If you find that over a period of time you become increasingly disenchanted, even discouraged, by the idea of ​​spending the day at the office, you may be experiencing stress. Chronic stress is not only implicated in emotional disorders but also in physical illness. Stress can change our physiological chemistry, which in turn compromises your immune system. In short, you get sick.

Once you recognize one or two stress symptoms, you have time to decide how you want to alleviate the stress symptoms. Adding exercise, meditation, healthy eating, one-on-one time with loved ones, and setting boundaries with your career are ways you can start building a peaceful life. What if time is a factor in adding more activities? Learning to prioritize your activities so that you get the most profitable/energetic time is another way to reduce stress. If you’re taking good care of yourself, you’ll have less stress and more energy available for other activities. Do you remember the instructions on the plane? The oxygen mask is placed over the face first, then over the face of your child or loved one. If you can’t breathe, you can’t help others.

More difficult, but necessary to build resilience, is to change your mindset. Developing optimism is crucial for healthy resilience. While this sounds simple, changing behavior patterns isn’t easy. If attempts to change one or two patterns don’t alleviate symptoms, seeking out an impartial third party, such as a life coach or therapist, might help you figure out what’s keeping you from making these changes. If you are already experiencing more than one or two stress symptoms, you may want to consider a consultation with a therapist. Trying to change established behavior patterns when you’re highly stressed can be demoralizing because you don’t have the physical and emotional resources to do so. Would you expect your car to start if it had no oil, gasoline, motor, etc.? You would call for help getting your car started, right? If you are stressed, depressed, or anxious, ask your spiritual advisor, coach, doctor, or therapist for help today.