Therapy for Physicians
Virtually serving clients anywhere in California, Texas, and 42 PSYPACT participating states (listed here)
When you work in the medical field, it can be hard to put yourself first. Long hours and stressful interactions with patients can wear you down, leaving you with little energy to devote to your own well-being.
A therapist for physicians like me understands this. By engaging in therapy with someone specialized in working with physicians and medical professionals, you can combat burnout and find more fulfillment in your life–both personally and professionally.
For many physicians, burnout feels like a way of life.
You've been used to the long days and sleepless nights since residency. And you may have coped by telling yourself that things will get better once you cross the finish line of residency and/or fellowship.
But then you get to the other side and are finally an attending physician, only to find that you’re still feeling constantly drained, exhausted, overwhelmed, and even resentful about life as a doctor.
You’ve worked your butt off to have a successful career. You’re not only a high achiever, but also used to functioning at the top of your game despite grinding yourself into the ground to do so.
But working so hard for so long can lead to inadvertently neglecting your own health and well-being.
And since your role as a physician has been a big part of your identity and self-worth, it can be incredibly anxiety-provoking when you notice burnout creep up or that you no longer feel satisfied or fulfilled in life.
Working with a mental health professional that specializes in doctor counseling can help.
I help doctors create more balance and resilience, heal from physician burnout and exhaustion, and feel deeper happiness and meaning in life–without sacrificing the fortitude and grit that got you this far.
My physician clients struggle like you do. Despite being competent as hell, regularly going the extra mile for their patients and loved ones, and being the doer/fixer for any problems in and out of work, life is still hard.
When they first come in, they struggle with many signs of physician burnout. Utter exhaustion: physical, mental, and emotional.
The compassion fatigue and cynical, jaded attitude with patients and colleagues is a constant reality at work.
They feel disconnected from loved ones and that there’s no time or energy to give to anyone else, much less themselves.
Sometimes, things feel so bad that they wonder what life would be like if they stopped practicing medicine.
At times, they even feel regret about becoming a doctor in the first place.
It also doesn’t help that deeper issues like people-pleasing, self-martyring, and overachieving tendencies make it hard to set boundaries or not feel guilty for saying “no.”
Before they came to see me, they worried that therapy would be another stressful, annoying, or even useless thing to add to their already-busy schedule.
They worried that they would spend more time having to explain the realities of being a physician to their therapist than actually talking about the problems they were there to work through.
And they were pretty certain that no amount of therapy or other lifestyle changes could address the systemic, unchangeable realities of medicine that contribute to their struggles.
Like my clients, you deserve to feel balanced, energized, and whole-heartedly connected with life within and beyond your medical career.
Together, we can explore what well-being looks like for you and how to make effective, lasting changes to improve your mental health and ensure balance in life and longevity in the career you worked so hard for.
Being able to enjoy life with your full self present in it doesn’t have to be out of reach anymore. Schedule your complimentary consultation to learn more.
Why should I work with a therapist for doctors?
Despite how far we’ve come with normalizing mental health care, unfortunately it’s still the case that both experiencing mental illness and seeking mental health care can often carry a stigma for doctors. Sadly, this is not a surprise given so many reasons.
Asking for help during medical training is often looked down upon or discouraged–the more you could do on your own, the more you were praised and valued, no matter the mounting emotional and physical costs to you. This reality is worsened by the prevalence of teachers and attendings who themselves role model a lack of healthy work/life balance–sometimes even going so far as to brag about overworking and wear their workaholism as a badge of heroic honor.
Physicians are held to incredibly high standards. Doctors face significant pressure (internal and external) to "have it all together," making it even difficult to ask for help. This prevents many physicians from seeking professional support. But you’re not alone, and just like your patients, you deserve support and care.
Struggling with things like physician burnout or other mental health concerns isn't your fault or a sign of weakness–it's an understandable reaction to an intense, high-stakes profession. In fact, it’s now more the norm than the exception that many doctors struggle with some aspect of their mental health. One study revealed that up to 42% of physicians in general hospitals experience work-related fatigue.
The American Medical Association reports that the COVID-19 pandemic has understandably made physicians more vulnerable to burnout and other mental health concerns as well. Beyond burnout, research suggests that medical doctors also tragically experience higher rates of suicide than the average population. These findings, combined with stigmas around seeking mental health treatment, make it clear that physician-specific mental health care must be an utmost priority.
Working with a mental health professional who understands the unique challenges (and highlights) of being a physician can be extremely validating. As a clinical psychologist specialized in working with doctors, I am especially attuned to the unique challenges, experiences, complex feelings and emotional patterns, and systemic realities that physicians struggle with.
You're already under enough stress as it is-you don't need the added pressure of feeling misunderstood by mental health counselors without expertise in your profession or feeling like you have to explain every small detail about life as a physician to your therapist.
How a therapist for physicians can help you
Many physicians feel shame or guilt about reaching out for support. However, it takes courage and vulnerability to ask for help when you're struggling.
Just as you advise your patients to prioritize their physical and mental health, you deserve the same.
Working with a mental health professional in therapy can help you increase your capacity to care for yourself and show up more wholeheartedly for the people in your life—loved ones and patients alike—in a more authentic, meaningful way.
And for the research geeks out there, it may help to know that there are also many research-backed benefits to working with a mental health counselor.
Here are just a few:
Increase self compassion
Working in an intense career like medicine can make it difficult to be kind to yourself. You're used to pushing yourself hard, since that's what your role calls for. While that's admirable and completely understandable, it can take a serious toll on your mental health after a while.
Studies demonstrate that certain types of therapy interventions can help you boost your self compassion. Being kinder to yourself can help you reduce guilt for mistakes, taking time off work, or putting your own needs first.
Explore your identity
Being a medical doctor can become central to how you see yourself. It fundamentally shapes how you think about the world and how you interact with others. This isn't an inherently bad thing. However, it adds a lot of pressure and can make it tough for providers to prioritize their personal lives and have a sense of self outside of medicine.
In fact, research shows that the very positive traits that make you a caring physician for your patients–things like conscientiousness, responsibility, attention to detail, and feeling that medicine is a personal “calling”–may actually be contributing to your physician burnout. It doesn’t have to be this way though–you deserve to feel a complete, expansive sense of self-worth and personal identity beyond your role as a doctor.
Mental health professionals can help you reflect on your identity more deeply and the expectations you have of yourself. In therapy, you'll explore what other areas of your life can give you pleasure and meaning, and how you can create a secure, well-rounded sense of self beyond your career.
Emotionally integrate stressful experiences
Many physicians may not realize that they’re experiencing trauma at work in addition to burnout. Those who enter medical training–people like you–are some of the most compassionate people out there. While this makes you great at your job, it can also make you especially vulnerable to both burnout and vicarious trauma.
Trauma looks different from person to person, but some common symptoms include: agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, social isolation, flashbacks, severe anxiety, mistrust, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, guilt, insomnia, nightmares, or emotional detachment.
These symptoms are serious and deserve proper treatment. Therapy for doctors can give you the support you need to process these emotional experiences. By working with a therapist, you can better understand how you conceptualize these experiences and how they impact your sense of self. From here, you can make gentle shifts to help you find new perspectives–and more compassion for yourself.
Improve your mental health condition
Research demonstrates the link between burnout and mental health problems like anxiety and depression. In addition, many medical providers experience vicarious trauma while working as a doctor, which can also contribute to burnout, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and likely even physician suicide.
Therapy has been shown to improve quality of life for people who experience mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression. Though asking for help might feel overwhelming or scary, you deserve to prioritize your well-being.
Meet Annia Raja, PhD: Clinical Psychologist & Therapist for Doctors
Whether you're a medical doctor in a hospital setting, a primary care physician, a surgeon, or other kind of medical professional, I'm here to help. I believe that working with mental health professionals who truly understand your situation is key to forming a strong therapeutic connection and facilitating your personal growth.
My approach to therapy for physicians
I specialize in supporting doctors struggling with physician burnout.
How, you ask? Great question.
First, I received my PhD from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, which also happens to be a top-tier medical school and residency program for a wide array of specialties. This means that much of my clinical training involved collaborating with other physicians. Training within a top-notch medical institution necessitated that I become intensely familiar with the systemic realities, pressures, and workflow patterns of daily physician life.
Second, my partner is a physician in an incredibly demanding and rigorous specialty. It was eye-opening to see the insane stressors that were normalized throughout my partner’s training, as well as for colleagues and our mutual friends across multiple specialties. I feel immense compassion in my heart for doctors after so much experience bearing witness to moments that no one else usually sees–the sleepless nights on call, the sheer exhaustion and defeat after long days, the feelings of agony from tough complications, the big and small ways in which hospital systems can compound the overwhelm that doctors feel. All this makes me intimately familiar with the intricacies of life as a doctor, and it fuels my passion for working with physicians in therapy in a deeply personal and purpose-driven way.
In my practice, I've worked with tons of medical providers to process, integrate, and heal from the unique stressors and dynamics that are part of medicine and medical culture. Through my experiences in and out of the therapy room, I've developed an extensive understanding of the challenges that doctors face. With that being said, I acknowledge each of my clients as the expert of their own experience. I'm here to serve as your sounding board and confidante, as well as offer my insight and constructive feedback–not tell you who you are or what you need to do.
My mental health services for physicians involve an in-depth, psychodynamic approach. Together, we'll gain a deeper understanding of the traits and experiences that may contribute to your current struggles. From here, we can forge a path forward to help you be more present, secure, and fulfilled.
Physicians are highly vulnerable to burnout. Yes, structural and environmental stressors play a part, but they're often only one part of the puzzle. There are also individual patterns, beliefs, and stuck points that may make you more susceptible to getting burned out.
Therapy is an opportunity to dive deep into your unique patterns and beliefs as the means for your personal growth and healing.
This work can be hard and at at times intense, but it is worth it.
Therapy helps you make lasting changes to create a life that's fulfilling and meaningful—both within and beyond your medical career.
-
Though this isn't an exhaustive list, the following mental health professionals can provide individual and group therapy for physicians: clinical social workers, pastoral counselors (members of the clergy who have specialized training in clinical pastoral education), marriage and family therapists, and psychologists.
Most mental health professionals obtain a master's degree to provide therapy. As a clinical psychologist, I have a PhD doctoral degree. Many mental health professionals have extensive training and can provide individual therapy, family therapy, and group therapy. However, not all have direct experience as therapists for physicians.
-
Yes, I provide counseling exclusively online. This allows me to offer mental health care to a wide range of medical professionals across the states of Texas and California, including those in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Westwood, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Orange County, Palo Alto, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Houston, and more.
Many doctors enjoy online therapy for the convenience. Your jam-packed schedule doesn't allow you much extra time, so being able to quickly join virtual sessions can be clutch. All sessions take place via a HIPAA-compliant platform to ensure that your information stays confidential.
-
Yes, confidentiality is incredibly serious to me. And you’re not alone in this fear. In fact, one study suggests that nearly 40% of physicians are reluctant to seek mental health care out of concern for jeopardizing their medical license. While your concerns are valid, so is your well-being.
Confidentiality is the utmost priority in my practice. As a therapist for physicians, I am not in-network with any insurance companies. This allows us to forgo giving a potentially stigmatizing diagnosis that you may fear having to disclose beyond our client-therapist relationship.. Instead, we can support your mental health on your terms alone.
Confidentiality concerns can lead some physicians to seek care without using any health insurance benefits. Nonetheless, if you choose, you also have the option of pursuing out-of-network reimbursement for sessions. Whatever works for you, works for me.
FAQs about my mental health services for doctors
Therapy for doctors can help you take back control of your mental health
Whether you feel totally checked out from your job due to stress, or you struggle to make time for anything other than work, counseling can help. Therapy for doctors won't necessarily change the stressful situations in your life, but it can transform the way you handle them.
Working with a therapist for physicians like me provides you the much-needed (and much-deserved) space to process your feelings and the things you experience and witness at work, learn how to set healthy boundaries, advocate for yourself in and out of work, and get in touch with who you are aside from being a doctor.
I want to acknowledge how difficult it can be to be the patient when you're used to being the doctor. However, you're still a person who is worthy of support! If you're struggling to maintain a work-life balance, feeling constantly stressed, or noticing that your relationships are suffering, it's time to get help.
I offer free consultations to address any questions or concerns you may have before starting the process. If it sounds like we might be a good fit for each other, I encourage you to reach out. I look forward to hearing from you and joining you on your journey of recovery!
I maintain my licenses in California and Texas and also participate in PSYPACT, meaning that through online therapy, I am able to see clients based anywhere in California, Texas, or any of the following PSYPACT participating states:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming