EASY ACCESS –
Nov. 26, 2025 – As physicians, we pride ourselves on diagnostic acuity, precision in judgment, and emotional endurance. But there’s a blind spot many of us share—one that doesn’t respond to intellect, training, or discipline. It’s addiction.Not infrequently, fellow physicians arrive in my psychiatry practice bewildered. Some of them won’t come right out and say, “I’m an addict.” Instead, they’ll say things like, “I’ve been working a lot . . . and I’ve also been drinking a lot.”
It would be convenient if addiction respected IQ or postgraduate degrees. But data—and clinical experience—tell us otherwise. Physicians are not only not immune to addiction; we are more vulnerable to it. High-achieving professionals report higher-than-average rates of substance use disorders. For example, the point prevalence of alcohol use disorder for female surgeons is 26%, compared to the general prevalence of 8% of women in the US.
The truth is that knowledge and training do not protect against addiction. In fact, they may camouflage it longer and make it harder to confront. Yes, practicing medicine is inherently stressful. Long hours, emotional burdens, regulatory demands, existential responsibility . . . all of those add weight. But if stress alone caused addiction, then every internist, surgeon, and nurse would have an addiction.
Moreover, low-income, low-education populations carry enormous chronic stress. But data shows increased substance use with higher education levels. We must look beyond the simple narrative that stress is the primary driver.
What actually seems to be at play are personality traits and psychological patterns that predate our careers. Or to put it differently, those predating factors often lead us into our careers.
