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For many, if not most (going by the sheer number of bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked freshers in the first flush of academic fervour), med school is something of a holy grail. But in reality, to milk the biblical metaphor, this cup can be very difficult to bear, to the point of sacrificing one’s own life.

In fact, this deified institution belies a disturbing truth: the rate of suicide ideation and suicide has been shown to be higher, and the mental quality of life substantially lower, in medical students than in an age-matched population. Up to a quarter of med students suffer from depression, more than half may be experiencing burnout, and over 10% may be harbouring thoughts of suicide.

The stats are from 2008, and were first published in various American medical journals. Having once somewhat dubiously dated a house surgeon, I can attest first-hand to the general melancholy the job seems to engender as a matter of course. But unlike many jobs where things get better after initial speed wobbles, for many med school graduates things only get worse.

The suicide rate among male physicians is more than 40% higher than among men in the American general population. For female physicians, it’s ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY PER CENT HIGHER. Theories as to what is behind this phenomenon include the social isolation of medical education, training and practice; the tendency for doctors to be highly critical of themselves and to blame themselves for their own illnesses; and, with regards to the particularly high suicide rate among female doctors, workplace harassment.

Ironies about these stats abound. Despite, as health professionals, having greater understanding of symptoms and better access to care, doctors are more likely to cope by resorting to dysfunctional behaviors like excessive drinking and are less likely to receive the right care.

An increased awareness of the problem has led to student wellness programs and confidential mental health services being offered by more and more medical schools. But while med students are being encouraged to seek help and support for their “issues”, there tend to be few if any institutional structures that mitigate the negative professional and social effects of actually doing so.

The infamous competition for post-grad positions and the glaring lack of accountability that allows for doctors to be open and honest about their snafus means that burn-out and stress can seriously compromise the health of doctors as well as their patients.

The perception of infallibility is actively created and perpetuated by teaching institutions and professional environments themselves: it’s just one big cycle of everyone buying into the same lie. Despite their best efforts to convince us otherwise, doctors are as human as the rest of us.