Studies Show Lawyers Are Prone to Poor Mental Health

In a study of North Carolina lawyers (the "North Carolina Study"), approximately 37% of lawyers reported feeling depressed and 42% reported feeling lonely during the previous three weeks.  The North Carolina Study also stated that 24% of the lawyers surveyed reported that they had experienced symptoms of depression at least three times per month during the past year. (See Patrick J. Schiltz, 52 Vand. L. Rev.at 874-75.)

A study in Arizona found that, in addition to depression, the lawyers studied had experienced high rates of hostility, anxiety, and paranoia.  The North Carolina Study likewise found that more than 25% of participating lawyers reported symptoms of profound anxiety (such as faintness, clammy hands, a racing heart, and trembling hands) at a minimum of three times per month during the previous year.  The Washington Study found elevated rates (significantly above normal) or hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsiveness, and social alienation among lawyers.  In one New Jersey survey, 82% of the lawyers surveyed reported excessive levels of stress.  One commentator has noted that approximately 66-75% of lawyers claim to have high stress levels, and approximately 33% believe that the stress is both emotionally and physically harmful.  (See ibid. at 876; Steven Keeva, Transforming Practices at 4; Carl Horn III, LawyerLife at 33; Deborah Rhode, In the Interests of Justice at 25.)