The Veterinarian Suicide Epidemic
Veterinarians are facing a suicide epidemic due to the immense amount of stress veterinarians face from their occupations, but this statistic can change by making changes to reduce the amount of stress veterinarians are put under. First, veterinary students experience a lot of stress due to school because of high expectations. Second, veterinarians experience a lot of stress from their jobs. Finally, veterinarians and veterinary students are experiencing a lot of stress from their debt from school. Veterinarians face a high suicide rate when compared to the general public due to academic, work-related, and financial stress but making changes to curriculum, improving access to mental health professionals, and making veterinary school more affordable can help reduce the amount of veterinarians that are committing suicide.
Suicide is the intentional act of taking one’s own life (“Suicide”). Currently, suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is a very perplexing human behavior because suicide challenges the idea that all organisms are driven by the motivation of self-preservation (Nock 511). There are some theories as to why people commit suicide. One study states, “Current theories of suicide suggest that people kill themselves to escape intolerable circumstances, such as those resulting from negative life circumstances and the experience of mental disorders” (Nock 515) Interestingly enough, college students are known to struggle with their mental health. In fact, “The prevalence of mental health problems among the college student population is on the rise” (Holland 16) When college students are asked about their sources of stress, most students state academics and finances. “The American College Health Association (2015) reports that college students rank finances as their second-largest stressor after academics” (Chan 142) Veterinary students and veterinarians already in the field are no exception because they struggle with these issues and more. Veterinarians have a high prevalence of mental illness “In 2014, a survey of 11,627 US veterinarians found 9% had current serious psychological distress, 31% had experienced depressive episodes, and 17% had experienced suicidal ideation since leaving veterinary school, each of these is a risk factor for suicide and each was more prevalent than in the general population” (Tomasi). Not to mention higher mental illness prevalence, veterinarians also have a higher suicide rate when compared to the general public, “Another study of male and female veterinarians in California who died during 1960 through 1992 determined the [Proportionate Mortality Ratio] for suicide among California veterinarians was 2.6 times that of the general population” (Tomasi).
A major source of stress that is contributing to the high veterinarian suicide rates is academic stress. Veterinary students take too many credit hours a semester. According to Auburn University, “[Veterinary], students take 20 to 24 credit hours per term. This course load requires an average of 36 hours per week in the classroom or laboratory for students seeking to become a doctor of veterinary medicine”(Prospective Veterinary Students – Auburn University: College of Veterinary Medicine) Full-time students in the undergrad program take between 12-18 credit hours. This means that veterinary students are taking more coursework than full-time students. This means that some veterinary students are taking almost double the coursework of full-time, undergraduate students. Since veterinary students are expected to be in the classroom for 36 hours a week, this makes veterinary students just shy of the 40-hour work week that full-time employees work. Veterinary students will spend an average of 7.2 hours in class whereas a full-time employee spends 8 hours a day at work. An employee goes home and does not worry about work until the next morning, but veterinary students still have to do homework, study, and research. Since veterinary students are in class all day, this leaves them little time to do anything other than school. If students spend the recommended amount of time studying, which is two hours per every hour in class, this means they will spend 72 hours studying a week for a total of 108 hours of the 168 hours in a seven day week. This means that students only have 60 hours a week to themselves. If students get the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night, this will leave students with only 4 hours a week to take care of their daily activities such as eating, socializing, washing clothes, shopping, showering, and working to afford school. Typically, sleep is the first activity that is sacrificed by students. However, veterinary students do not get enough sleep a night because of their heavy course loads and this lack of sleep affects their mental health. “Lack of sleep is a widespread problem in today’s society, and it can negatively affect psychological and physiological functioning [[ 1]]. At the psychological level, lack of sleep is accompanied by adverse changes, such as symptoms of anxiety and depression [[ 2]], reduced cognitive performance and the deterioration of judgment capacity [[ 3]].” (Morales) The lack of sleep contributes to the high levels of suicide because sleep deprivation can increase and lead to anxiousness, restlessness, and increased stress from their increased workload. Stress on students can cause physical symptoms such as heart and digestive issues. This also affects their academic performance because their cognitive ability is affected. The students cannot think as clearly because they do not get enough sleep. Veterinary students are already stressed and the lack of sleep these students are getting is not helping their mental health. However, another source of academic stress is the sheer amount of information veterinary students must learn and retain in such a short amount of time. Dr. Ravi states, “There is so much information to learn that I feel like it’s hard to have time to read/research everything I’d like to. Veterinary medicine, especially exotic animal medicine, is rapidly evolving, with new procedures, diagnostics, and treatments prescribed almost on a daily basis. It’s a steep enough learning curve for new graduates who are going into small animal medicine; however, treating exotics also involves multiple species, each with different husbandry/diet needs and different diseases” (Hess 111-112) Veterinarians have to learn a lot about many different species of animals. If a veterinary student knows they want to work with horses when they graduate, the student cannot specialize in equine in school. Medical doctor students only learn about the human body whereas veterinary students must work with and learn about all species of animals, not just their animal of interest. Veterinarians are held to the expectation that they must learn about many different animals, diagnoses, and treatments. They must learn all of this with very little room for error. In conclusion, academics are a significant source of stress for veterinarians and vet students. This leads to higher levels of suicide because they are expected to be in class all day, study, and work. Veterinary students take more credit hours per semester than the full-time undergraduate student This means they are sleeping less. This decrease in the amount of sleep veterinary students get affects their mental health. Sleep deprivation has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Lack of sleep also affects their academic performance and thinking because cognitive performance is reduced.
Veterinarians have a high suicide rate due to the stress they experience due to their occupations. Veterinarians are constantly around dying animals they cannot always help. The article states, “A unique aspect of the veterinary profession that distinguishes it from other professions is the constant exposure to death (most often through euthanasia) and the grief of bereaved owners” (Dow 382-383) Veterinarians and vet students are constantly exposed to the death of beloved animals of pet owners. This constant grief affects the mental well-being of these professionals and students. Veterinarians feel pain too when performing euthanasia and need support too. Veterinarians often do not feel prepared to console these grieving clients, and this demand places a lot of stress onto the veterinarians because they are expected to be the ones to provide support to these owners. Veterinarians are not well prepared to support their grieving clients. Based on a survey, most of the veterinary professionals did not feel that veterinary education prepared them well enough to relate to their grieving companion animal owners (Dow 386) Veterinarians are simply not equipped to properly handle their grieving clients. The curriculum in veterinary school does not teach veterinarians how to properly support their clients. There is no class to teach them how to counsel grieving pet owners. This lack of preparation for these clients adds to the amount of stress and occupational burnout veterinarians are experiencing. They feel less accomplishment due to the stress of losing client animals and not being able to console their clients. Veterinarians are emotionally exhausted due to their occupations which leads to less satisfaction in their career choices. However, this euthanizing an animal they cannot save from injuries is not the only problem. Veterinarians also find extreme distress when an animal can be saved, but the owner cannot afford the treatment. “The decision to euthanize an animal because of financial constraints can be more complex and distressing for owners and veterinarians alike” (Dow 383) Veterinarians experience high levels of stress when they are faced with situations where the animal can be physically saved but has to be euthanized because the owner cannot afford the treatment. Surgeries and medication can be incredibly expensive, most pet owners cannot afford or imagine dropping thousands of dollars worth of surgery for their companion animals. The decision to euthanize can be difficult for both veterinarians and pet owners. The decision to euthanize the animal under these circumstances is incredibly difficult because the loss of an animal due to financial hardship can be heartbreaking. Companion animals have significant meaning to their owners and veterinarians can form bonds with the animals that they are treating too which makes the loss even harder. In conclusion, veterinarians experience high levels of stress from their jobs. Veterinarians are consistently around death, usually in the form of euthanasia of the animals. Veterinarians do not feel vet school prepares them well to handle grieving clients. Financial constraints that lead to euthanasia are difficult for both owners and the veterinarians because veterinarians form bonds and affection for the animals that they treat. This amount of stress placed on veterinarians leads to high levels of job burnout because they do not feel accomplished when animals must be euthanized.
Finances are a major source of stress for veterinarians and vet students. Veterinary school is getting more expensive. According to Hess, tuition costs are rising, “Veterinary school tuition has been steadily rising over the past decade…While tuitions have been rising, financial assistance has been declining” (111) This rise in tuition demonstrates that veterinary school is becoming more unaffordable for veterinary students. While tuition increases, financial aid is decreasing. This means the students will have to pay more out of pocket to the colleges. However, even with the cost of school rising, veterinarians first starting into the field do not make a lot of money. Dr. Chan states, “Financial stability [is the single biggest pressure I feel in my career now]. I graduated with a 6-figure educational debt, and, as an intern, I am barely able to make ends meet, let alone make repayments on my student loans” (Hess 111) This is important because this quote demonstrates the uncertainty the vet students face when they graduate. Veterinary students have a massive bill to pay back when they graduate. The hope is when you graduate, you will find a good-paying job to afford to pay back your loans. According to Dr. Chan, this is not the case. Veterinarians are stressed because they just went to school for eight years, they are now in 6-figure debt, and the jobs they get out of school barely pay enough to pay the bills. This financial stress is not healthy for these vet students and veterinarians and is a reason why veterinarians have a higher suicide rate than the general public. Although veterinarians do not make a lot of money when they graduate, the bigger issue is finding a job. Veterinarians are having a harder time finding jobs. Hess states, “To make matters worse, the number of students receiving job offers before graduation has declined, and it’s getting harder and harder for students to find jobs once they’re out in the workforce” (111) Since finding a job for veterinary students is getting harder, these students will begin to feel uncertain about their futures while they are in school. Being uncertain about the future is very tiring and stressful. These students will begin to worry about how they will be able to pay back their loans on time and afford to pay their bills. This increases the risk of suicide because veterinarians feel like there is no way they will be able to pay back their student loans. They feel stuck and unsure, so they commit suicide. However, the stress caused by finances is not only experienced by veterinary students. Financial stress caused by higher education is experienced by most college students. According to Chan, “Millennials are also more stressed about money than older generations are (Pew Research, 2010) and financial health is their biggest stressor (American Psychological Association, 2012)… Many Millennials consider paying off student loans as their biggest financial challenge (Cook, 2015), relating to the $1.27 trillion student debt in the United States alone (Federal Reserve, 2015)” (142). This proves that student debt is a big problem for most college students in the United States. Many millennials are experiencing stress due to the debt they gained while in college. Millennials also believe that finances are their biggest stressor. This can be translated to veterinarians. These students will experience more stress due to finances because jobs are hard to find, the jobs they do find do not pay enough to pay the bills, and tuition is rising for veterinary students. With a bigger bill, less pay, and a chance they will not find a job will undoubtedly increase the stress experienced by veterinary students. However, some may argue that tuition is rising for all students and that veterinary students are no different than the rest of the students in higher education. This simply is not true. Veterinary students go to school longer than a lot of other students. For example, an associates degree takes 2 years, a bachelor’s degree takes 4 years, and master’s degree takes 6 years, whereas to become a DVM, veterinary school requires 8 years. This means that veterinary students are in school longer and accumulate more debt than most college students. This will add to the stress experienced by the veterinary students.
There are some arguments against this topic. One may state that the veterinary occupation is not stressful and that the veterinary profession attracts individuals that already have a history of mental illness. Veterinary medicine known to be an incredibly stressful occupation. Dow states, “Research has identified numerous aspects of workplace stress in the veterinary profession, including long working hours, time restraints, demanding clients, discussing finances with clients, delivering bad news, ethical and moral stress, poor work-life balance, perfectionism, exposure to euthanasia, animal abuse and the transition from university to practice” (382) If the veterinary profession was not stressful for the people, suicide rates would be lower. This means that the suicide rates would not be significantly higher than the national average (see figure 1). Stress is a known contributer to suicide and this is why veterinarians are facing a suicide epidemic. Another counter argument might be that veterinarians do not deserve more financial help because a lot of people are in debt from their student loans. First, to obtain a DVM, veterinarians must stay in school longer than most degrees. This means these students are accruing more debt than most college students. Not to mention that veterinary school is more expensive than undergrad. For example, just the fourth year of vet school’s total cost of attendance at The Ohio State University is around 80,000 dollars (Financial Aid Information) whereas one year of the undergraduate program is around 28,000 dollars. While there is a shortage of jobs for graduates going into the vet med field, there is actually a shortage of large animal/food animal veterinarians. “According to a USA Today report in 2008, approximately 500 counties in the USA have no veterinarian based in that county despite the fact that these counties also have over 5000 head of livestock residing in each county.1 That report also indicated that around 1,300 counties in the USA had fewer than 1 veterinarian per 25,000 head. With approximately 2,500 new veterinarians graduating each year, this data is difficult to comprehend. Although the demand for rural veterinarians has remained strong, the demand for pet or companion animal veterinarians has increased exponentially during the same period” (Moran 1-2) Veterinarians deserve financial help because the general public needs veterinarians. Veterinarians are struggling with their finances because the cost of school is simply too great. The shortage of large animal veterinarians affects the entire United States, not just one area. There should be more scholarships available for these students that want to become large animal veterinarians, better loan repayment plans, and some financial incentive to get these students into college so the shortage of large animal veterinarians is eliminated. Overall, the veterinarian profession is actually a stressful occupation that leads to higher levels of suicide, not just because the occupation attracts individuals with a history of mental illness. Veterinarians do deserve more financial help because they are in school for a long time, recent graduates do not make a lot of money, there is a lack of large animal veterinarians across the United States and the general public needs these veterinarians for their animals.
There are many things that can change to improve veterinarian suicide rates. First, the amount of credit hours that veterinary students are required to take should be reduced. Veterinary students are not getting enough sleep because of their heavy course load and this can be dangerous, “Other studies have examined the effect of sleep deprivation on doctors by means of questionnaires such as the d2 Test [[17]] and the Continuous Performance Test [[13]], showing altered attention and working memory, both of which are susceptible to causing errors in professional tasks” (Morales) By reducing the amount of credit hours veterinary students have to take a semester, the academic stress experienced will be greatly reduced. The students will have more time to study, learn the material more thoroughly, and have more time to sleep after completing daily tasks. By having a high number of credit hours, veterinary students are sleep deprived. This can jeopardize client safety because the exhausted and stressed students are more likely to make mistakes. By adjusting the credit hours per semester, students will experience less stress, get more sleep, and mental health will improve. However, credit hours are not the only thing that can change to help veterinary students and veterinarians. Access to mental health professionals for vet students and veterinarians that work for the government should be improved and encouraged to use these services available, “In the present study, none of the veterinarians sought support from a psychologist…Social support has been shown to have positive influences when used as a coping strategy” (Dow 387) By encouraging veterinarians and vet students to use mental health professionals, positive changes will begin to occur. Veterinarians will learn how to cope better when facing hardships in their jobs. Thus, this will reduce the stress and their mental health problems. In turn, by improving mental health, suicide rates will begin to drop. In addition to mental health professionals, veterinary students should be encouraged to use professional help. Universities and colleges should make veterinary school more affordable for the students.Recent graduate of veterinary school, Dr. Baine, says that she only recommends the veterinary occupation if “the student realizes that the debt to income ratio is disproportionate” (Hess 114) and Dr. McLaughlin says “The salaries offered for new graduates are low compared with the cost of graduation” (Hess 114). These two quotes show two different recent graduates explaining how expensive veterinary school is and that recent graduates do not make a lot of money and prospective students need to realize this when considering vet school. If veterinary schools were made more affordable, the students would experience less financial stress. The students would be more confident in their futures. Veterinary schools can be made more affordable by capping tuition costs, providing scholarships and/or grants to the students. This will reduce veterinarian suicide because they will experience less stress. They will be able to focus on their jobs rather than worrying about how they will pay both their bills and their student loans. The students will be happier and thus lessen the mental illnesses and the financial stress they experience. Finally, the stigma surrounding mental illness should be changed. “Mental illness is thought to carry a blemish or imperfection that society somehow negatively associated with the individual” (Holland 17-18) Currently, mental illness is seen as a weakness. This view on mental illness needs to change. This stigma is holding students back from getting the help they need from mental health professionals for fear of being seen as “weak”. By changing the view on mental illness to a positive and make going to mental health professionals as “normal”, then students and veterinarians will be more likely to attend these services. By increasing the attendance of these students, suicide rates for veterinarians will decrease. They will learn healthy coping habits and be able to vent their feelings in a healthy way. Allowing these feelings to be shared will decrease the stress experienced. Veterinarians and vet students will feel less alone and more comfortable that they know they have a good support system that understands their feelings. In conclusion, many things need to change if veterinarian suicide rates are going to drop. Less credit hours should be expected of veterinary students, access to mental health professionals should be improved, veterinary school should be made more affordable, and the stigma surrounding mental health should change.
There is a veterinarian suicide epidemic because veterinarians are stressed in many aspects of their lives and careers including academics, work-related, and financial stress but changes can be made to help reduce the amount of veterinarians that are committing suicide. First, veterinarians ares stressed by academics because of the amount of credit hours they must take a semester and how much material they must learn in such a short amount of time. Second, veterinarians experience a lot of stress from their occupations and their grieving clients. Finally, veterinarians are stressed from the debt they gained while in school because when the graduate the new veterinarians do not make a lot of money. However, the amount of veterinarians comitting suicide can be diminished by reducing the amount of credit hours these students are required to take, making school more affordable, improving access to mental health proffessionals, and changing the stigma regarding mental health.
Works Cited
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