recent GP survey on stress not being an illness

"twice exceptional" springs to mind 

thanks for the link to the evidence ArchaeC 

ArchaeC said:

I wouldn’t think that all autistic GPs would agree with you.

If they are able to sustain working in this field then they must be exceptional people indeed to not be overwhelmed by all the stressers present.

It is worthwhile noting the the article says we do not yet have prevalence rates for autistic doctors and the responses they got would be hard to make statistically meaningful conclusions from due to confirmational bias. 

one of the best known ways of alleviating stress is having "locus of control" in a situation.  GPs potentially have this and are very well trained in exercising it.

In context. a health service that is unable to meet the needs of patients erodes this locus of control and increases stress experience.  

I too am beginning to question BBC autonomy and capacity to filter for bias in factual reporting ArchaeC 

personal supervision helps -

having a service provision that even by 1% excedes the needs would resolve most of the problems i suspect

I think they should have personal supervision like counsellors and therapists do, someone more experienced they can talk to about their patients, without breaking confidentiality, either about a specific problem that they can't get to the bottom of, or just the grind of seeing people they can't help because the real problems are poverty.

According to my son, GP's in England charge £50 for a sick note, so it's not an easy or cheap option, but one that will eat more than half of your weeking benefit payment. 

Iain said:

I honestly doubt any autist could stay the course to be a GP, and if they did then they are a crash waiting to happen

I wouldn’t think that all autistic GPs would agree with you.

According to this journal, “Difficulties faced by autistic doctors, in our experience, rarely relate to patient care”. 
https://bjgp.org/content/71/708/294

I think it might be a statistically relevant proportion of "high functioning" autistic people who find themselves in such jobs Iain .

I suspect that their capacity to "stay the course" might be one of the contributory factors to high burnout in the profession.

Would be interesting and informative to have the accurate statistics to make my thoughts on the matter more objective.

Phased said:

So what I'm saying is that with GPs mostly living with extreme stress as part of their daily life (until they succumb to it themselves... )  it's hardly unlikely they think being stressed is not an illness.

I would agree with you Phased 

BBC standards at their editing department have declined. Sometimes I can’t make head or tail of what they are saying in the News App because they use a cut and paste style of unrelated facts and figures to put together an article. I think this is another example of a headline plucked from thin air.

Homebird said:

Something I was wondering was how autistic GPs manage stress.

I don't think autists would be able to sustain a career as a GP. There are too many stressers of core autistic issues for them.

Think about:

High pressure medical training of 10+ years (5 years of medical school, followed by 2 years of foundation training, and an additional 3 to 8 years of specialty training, depending on the chosen field).

Then you have the lack of routine, whether the very long days of hospital based training / specialisation or even the day work of constant 15 minute or less slots per patient.

You have to be constantly dealing with patients, many of who are in a highly stressed state, so social skills will be pushed to the max.

Sounds can be a challenge too as some patients are so loud, kids crying, patients shouting etc.

Smells - ugh, no thanks!

Etc.

I honestly doubt any autist could stay the course to be a GP, and if they did then they are a crash waiting to happen.

Already some interesting thoughts by others on this. The training for GPs takes a long time so those who have qualified have already coped with a lot more stress than others. Something I was wondering was how autistic GPs manage stress.

For older people, they have often coped for a long while growing up in a society that was quite negative about mental health. Perhaps as there have been some changes, people are more likely to admit to it. Younger people have grown up in a very different society, but one that is a lot more isolating. Not only have they had the pandemic, but also a world where a lot is done online, so less mixing with others who might help or having exercise that could help with mental health. 

I have thought pretty carefully about what I think of this article. And I will try to say what I believe as best as I can. Forgive me if I don't give justice in my response.

1. The statistics are represented in an untrue and inaccurate way. From a quote (can't quote my source, sorry) : there are 59,000 GPs in the UK. 5000 were in the survey. 752 responded. 442 felt there is overdiagnosis. So even if we look at 442/5000 x100. This is 8.84%. And it is how you spin this figure. Do you say 8.84% say there is overdiagnosis. Or do you say 91.16% thought that there was not. It is just spin. I am happy for a better statistician than me to have a look at this. I do note that I can not find exactly how many over 5000 we are talking about. When you say 'more than' 5000, to me that says 5001 - not 5999.

2. Be very, very careful when doing a survey for the media. And this being an open forum, I do risk certain things. I'm just hoping I don't end up quoted in the papers. Or indeed even being identified.

The thing that people remember are not the statistics, not at what the full article says. It is just one thing: it's the headline. And one GP in 5000 took that headline. That is what people remember. And that is the spin. And you have to think. What are the biases in the media and why do they happen? These are my thoughts:

1. It's about money. The headline sells. The media needs money. Needs readers.

2. It's about who controls media and what is their agenda. Political agenda and financial agenda. Who is behind the stories. Who owns the media.

3. It’s political. I was thinking about the Health Secretary's article in the Guardian. Why did the Guardian publish the article: ?because it sells papers? Why did Mr Streeting choose to write to the Guardian when he ‘leans’ to the Right. Because, he is making a move to challenge the Prime Minister. And I think he will win. I think Keir Starmer thinks that too. So what does Mr Streeting gain from having his piece of spin in the Left-wing Guardian. Because he is thinking of the next election. He wants to appear Statesman-like but also uses manipulative language in his piece. He has his ‘eyes on the prize’.

If you work in the media or know who I am, I ask you not to out me on this. But I guess you would have your own agenda too.

Kind regards, Mrs Snooks.

Is it correct to assume autistic people don’t generally feel stress or depression etc until it’s too overwhelming? Autistic people tend to have a higher threshold than NT people 

Phased said:

with GPs mostly living with extreme stress as part of their daily life (until they succumb to it themselves... )  it's hardly unlikely they think being stressed is not an illness.

When you look at GPs, they have to deal with all the regular people, the scam artists trying to get them to write a sick note when they are fine, people trying to get drugs, those with mental health issues who are probably really challenging to work with, domestic abuse sufferers, people who have health issues related to poverty, those who lie about their issues for whatever reason, those who won't shut up long enough to listen to the GP,  the really stupid people who make themselves ill through bad behaviour and those who are getting desperate because they cannot find the cause of their illness or have a death sentence from something incurable.

This must be one of the most challenging jobs I can think of. Add in pressure from governement to see an unfesable number of patients, patients more likely to sue than ever before and the difficulty in getting good doctors to take on GP work - a recipie for a really stressful existance.

Will it knock on to their view of the world - most likely. It is hard for it not to do so as they are only human.

The levels of stress some NDs report probably seem trivial to GPs in comparison to what they experience so I can see why they may think those NDs are overstating things.

Add in the fact that many are not up to date with the understanding on neurodiverse knowledge - uninformed and unconcious bias is most likely present for these GPs.

really it’s the triggers in certain situations. Everyone has different stressors and some people are not affected or can recover more quickly. It’s much more easily said and thought about than done .

cortisol is the reason for stress and stress itself is not the illness, but the body’s prolonged exposure to cortisol is what causes illness in some people.

I think workplace expectations coupled with financial burden and limitations on time -the perfect storm. Feeling appreciated by coworkers too. It all adds to a sense of security which keeps worry (cortisol) at bay.

I know switching modes/heads from work to home mode is difficult and a rest /sleep deficit builds up. When stress interferes with sleep it’s the worst