Berks Barrister Winter 2018 - 39

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* Younger, less experienced lawyers working in firm settings
have higher levels of distress symptoms than their older
more experienced peers, and being in the early stages of
one's legal career is strongly correlated with a high risk of
developing alcohol use disorder.
* Of those attorneys who think that alcohol or other
drugs have been a problem at some point in their life, the
majority say the problem started within the first 15 years
after entering the profession.
* Lawyers don't seek help for their behavioral health
problems most often because they fear someone will find
out and it will discredit them and possibly affect their
license.
Clinically significant anxiety? Isn't that what we get paid for?
The ability to push or sometimes leap through that anxiety and
perform for our clients?

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Enter the Ghost of Christmas Past...
As a young attorney I perceived myself as a Raymond
Chandler/Humphrey Bogart type. Streetwise, hardworking (not
to mention devilishly handsome), and as you would expect, often
found reaching for a bottle of rye in the bottom left hand drawer
of his desk. My chosen calling as a criminal defense attorney
seemed to fit that mold flawlessly. My clients, who needed an
attorney as much or more than anyone, deserved representation.
And from someone who could smoothly articulate their unique
story. An attorney who was impeccably dressed, eloquent and
did I mention, devilishly handsome? After all, this is my selfimage we're talking about. And if I did indulge in "problematic
drinking" that was certainly not out of character. I even
rationalized it as "research" or simply a way to detox (for lack of
a better word). But the numbers for attorneys compared to other
stressful professions such as doctors, are eye-opening.
According to the "2016 Hazeldon Betty Ford Foundation
Study" not only do attorneys have nearly triple the rate of
self-reported problematic alcohol use as the general population,
but they have double the rate of doctors, another high stress
profession. According to the study, problematic alcohol use
Continued on page 40

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Winter 2018 | 39

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Berks Barrister Winter 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Berks Barrister Winter 2018