I thank Drs. Verma and Flynn, as we all should, for their thoughtful and very appropriate letter. Their message is vitally important: doctors are at high risk for depression, and when it affects us we must confront it and treat it as we would any other illness. After the CMAJ article was published,1 I received a small number (under 10) of private letters from doctors who bravely described their own experience with depression, expressed concern for my well being, and made suggestions about how I could seek help. However, I feel like a bit of a fraud. I have published extensively in the peer-reviewed medical literature, and in the last few years have tried my hand at nonmedical writing, in the nonfiction genre. The piece in CMAJ was but my bravest to date, and apparently was quite effective in painting the picture I set out to paint. But I am not depressed and I am not burned out. Perhaps the development of new pursuits in my life like creative writing is one of the very reasons why I have not suffered burnout. At the risk of stating the obvious, it is terribly important for hard-working doctors to develop diverse outside interests as passionately as possible. Again I thank Drs. Verma and Flynn, and the other doctors who wrote me, and the many others who must have silently worried about me. But please allow me to assure all of you that I am very well and happy, and apparently my creative writing is improving!
Mark Bernstein Division of Neurosurgery University Health Network Professor Department of Surgery University of Toronto Toronto, Ont.
Reference
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