Behind the numbers: the infinite variety of mental health stories

Radio 4 have a fascinating programme ‘More or Less – Behind the Stats’, where the presenter Tim Harford goes behind the statistics each week which have been splashed across our national media, to help us understand their meaning and validity.

He often exposes the inaccuracies but also brings the statistics to life. You may have seen LawCare’s annual 2018 helpline statistics reported in this Journal and other legal media in January.

These statistics will tell you that our call numbers were up by five per cent in 2018, that the reason most lawyers called us was stress and that we had almost double the number of calls about harassment and bullying.

But what they don’t tell you is why mental health matters in the legal community or the stories of lawyers struggling every day with the pressures of life in the law.

The story of the young female trainee being sexually harassed by a senior male partner and too frightened to tell anyone, the barrister at the criminal bar feeling burnt out and wondering if this is a sustainable career, the woman returning to work after her first baby unable to cope with the long hours expected of her worried she won’t have a future at the firm.

The young barrister, the first in his family to go to university, navigating an unfamiliar work culture, the experienced partner waking up at night worried about a mistake he has made, the lawyer returning to work after time off for stress convinced the firm want to get of him, the chartered legal executive not able to tell her line manager she has been diagnosed with depression, and the single parent doing the LPC part time and juggling work, unable to get a training contract.

We listen to these stories every day on our helpline. There is little published peer-reviewed data on the mental health of British lawyers. But studies from the US show that lawyers have higher rates of stress, anxiety and depression when compared to the general. Why is this?

I don’t think it’s that lawyers are genetically pre-disposed to poorer wellbeing than anyone else; there is something about the culture and practice of law that is having an impact.

The long working hours, the perfectionist mentality, the stigma of admitting you are feeling overwhelmed or have a mental health issue, managing the expectations of clients, working with vulnerable people, the intensive study, lack of support for management responsibilities, the forced cultural norms that can lead to exclusion, no vocabulary to talk about emotions and how our work affects us, these are some of the factors that can have an effect.

The good news is – there are positive steps that the legal community can take to address some of these. And I think the most important of these are – education, leadership and talking.

Education

The journey to a mentally healthier legal profession starts in law school. The current generation of young lawyers are the future leaders of our profession. We should be educating them how to look after their mental health and to seek help early if they are feeling the pressures of study or work - to help them understand that anyone can struggle and if you are, it’s not a sign of weakness.