Should you hug a lawyer today?

Image by Quite Adept via Flickr

When what you want is more, and then more more, getting enough becomes disappointing. This powerful dynamic, often called the hedonic treadmill, is dangerously playing itself out among lawyers dealing with the recession. Given all the (often terrible) lawyer jokes that float around, having compassion for suffering members of the Bar may not be high on anyone’s emotional priority list. But the New York Law Journal just ran a story describing how maybe we should try to find some compassion given the current economy.

Depression increasingly has been recognized as a major problem among attorneys, members of a high-stress occupation vulnerable to anxiety even in good times. And these are not good times.

“There is anxiety and depression over being underemployed or unemployed, or marital difficulties if they lost their job and the question is, how do they handle the anxiety,” said Eileen Travis, who heads the New York City Bar’s Lawyer Assistance Program.

[snip]

In addition to substance abuse, a lack of job prospects can trigger the onset of depression, which in extreme cases may even lead to suicide.

It seems that lawyers are paying a very high cost for disappointed expectations. More work, less money, and for many no work at all. And there’s more to it.  The same personality traits that help make someone into a good lawyer makes resilience less likely during an economic downturn. Lawyers tend to be individualistic and help refusers. Combine that with the ingrained pessimism that often helps make someone a good lawyer and you have a group at risk. After all, we pay them not only to look at the glass as half empty, but to also assume the water that’s there just might be dirty.

As long as there’s food on the table, a good life includes gratitude for what one has, not envy of and effort after all the things one does not have. So, today, if you have a chance, give a lawyer a hug and remind them of all the bounty that still surrounds them.

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CORRECTION: 7/22/09

A reader contacted me to complain about the cavalier ending to this entry. On reflection, I agree. Clinical depression does not call for hugs and gratitude. It needs treatment. If you or someone you know or love is suffering from this treatable malady, get help today. Call your doctor, your EAP, or reach out to a therapist, preferably someone recommended to you by someone you know and trust. The cited article included several ways to get help including www.lawerswithdepression.com and www.nycbar.org/LAP/index.php (the Lawyers Assistance Program of the NYC Bar), both of which are excellent resources. A feeling of hopelessness is a symptom of depression, it is not a fact; help is a phone call away.