Study Finds Lawyers No Longer Unique In Their Unhappiness, Just As Miserable As Doctors

// It’s not as though we should say ‘OK, we don’t have to worry about it.’ But in terms of, ‘Is there something uniquely wrong in the legal profession?’ Maybe not.

— Yale Law professor Yair Listokin, commenting on the findings of the study he conducted with student Ray Noonan on lawyers’ mental health and excess alcohol consumption compared to other highly educated professionals and the overall U.S. population. Listokin discovered that the percentage of lawyers with moderate to severe mental health issues is comparable to that of doctors, veterinarians, and dentists, but is much lower than that of people without a college degree. As far as problematic drinking is concerned (i.e., five or more drinks 12 days or more each year), lawyers are reporting excess consumption twice as much as others with advanced professional degrees.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Topics

Alcohol Abuse, Health & Wellness, mental heath, Quote of the Day