An assessment of investigators published in the British Medical Journal from twenty nations have suggested that suicide rates amongst the medical community have been decreasing in recent times, but these rates are relatively high for female doctors when compared to the norms within society. The researchers concluded from a study between 1960 and March 2024 that analysed suicide rates in physicians versus the general populace, noting that suicide risk can fluctuate between different geographical locations and countries.
The study included a total of 39 studies from primarily Europe, Australia and the USA, documenting 3,303 suicides by male doctors and 587 suicides by female doctors over two separate periods of observation. They discovered an overall lack of an increase in suicide risk in male doctors compared to society in general. Nonetheless, they did find that female doctors showed a significantly elevated suicide risk, 76 percent higher than that of the general population.
The most recent ten studies, compared to previous studies, indicated a decrease over time in suicide rates amongst both male and female clinicians. However, the suicide rate for female doctors remained significantly elevated, at 24 percent above society’s general rate. The researchers couldn’t decisively point to the reasons for the decline but suggested increased mental health consciousness and professional support in recent years may have had a hand in it, but they didn’t rule out local contextual factors such as healthcare training and work settings, besides attitudes and stigmas about mental health and suicide.
They also recognized the study’s limitations, including a scarcity of records from regions outside Europe, the US, and Australia/New Zealand and probable under-reporting as an effect of suicide stigma.
In another independent study showcased in the British Medical Journal, higher doses of psilocybin, a vital constituent of magic mushrooms, resembled the effect of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) drug escitalopram on symptoms of depression. The patients treated with large doses of psilocybin had better responses than those treated with placebo, but the size of this effect was marginal. The researchers recognized the possibility that flawed study methods could have overestimated the potency of psychedelics, but they did conclude that high-dose psilocybin “had shown potential in treating depressive symptoms”.
The researchers meticulously searched science databases to uncover randomised controlled investigations released up until October 12th, 2023. These investigations were focused on determining the impacts of either psychedelics or escitalopram on adults suffering from severe depressive episodes. The qualifying criteria for psychedelic treatment necessitated the substance be consumed orally and without the concurrent use of antidepressants. As for the escitalopram trials, they were required to analyse a minimum of two varying oral doses (not exceeding 20 mg/day), in comparison to a placebo.
Any trials that directly contrasted psychedelic therapy and escitalopram usage were also considered.
The data compiled includes a total of 811 individuals (mean age of 42; 54% female) from 15 trials scrutinising psychedelic treatment, as well as 1,968 individuals (mean age of 39; 63% female) from a set of five trials centred on escitalopram.
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