Articles
Statistics about lawyers and depression are staggering. Across 0 to 78 years of practice, 17.8 to 19% of lawyers reported clinically significant levels of depression. According to studies conducted by Dr. Andrew Benjamin, et. al. in the 1980s and 1990s, depression among law students approximated that of the general population before law school (about 9-10%). However, it rose to 32% by the end of the first year of law school, and rocketed to an amazing 40% by the third year, never to return to pre-law school levels. Represented graphically, this would indicate that depression rises as steeply as a ski slope. Now, either the pre-law students assessed two weeks before law school classes began were uncharacteristically “happy,” at the top of their game, and scored as less often depressed than they really were, or law school had significant, permanent deleterious effects on them.
Why are so many lawyers depressed? Professors Larry Krieger and Ken Sheldon’s research indicates that the loss of intrinsic values is responsible—at least for a lowered sense of wellbeing among first-year law students. If Krieger and Sheldon are correct, then identifying intrinsic values, holding firm to them, and integrating them into day-to-day law practice are the keys to inoculating oneself against psychic distress and depression.
The Loss Of Intrinsic Values Can Account For Depression
Extrinsic values come from without, not within. They are the “prizes” we aim for and accumulate along the way. In law school, extrinsic values abound. My students can create a long list: “Grades! Class rank, law review, Order of the Coif, moot court, that great summer clerkship at a silk stocking firm, a plum judicial clerkship, and the brass ring: a lucrative associate position with a crave-able large private practice firm.” First-year associate salaries at these firms, for example, reportedly hit $160,000 for select graduates from select law schools (The National Jurist, January, 2008). In comparison, the median gross starting salary of a lawyer at a non-profit public service organization is approximately $40,000 (National Association of Law Placement).
According to my students, after law-school graduation, extrinsic rewards include, “money, cars, houses, and boats,” Martindale-Hubbell ratings, and win/loss records. Extrinsic rewards may also be intangible, such as the approbation of one’s peers, colleagues, other lawyers, and judges, and prestige, status, and reputation.
Identify Your Unique Intrinsic Rewards
What are intrinsic values? Unique to each individual, there is no “one-size-fits-all” answer. Some may find it intrinsically satisfying to represent a client and give that person her “day in court,” uphold constitutional rights, craft a particularly good oral argument, draft a competent legal document, structure a complex corporate transaction, or negotiate a settlement of a legal dispute. Others may be motivated by feeling that they “made a difference” in someone’s life, helped someone in need, created a new business venture, or saved someone money.
Mismatched Expectations Can Also Account For Depression
Depression can also arise if prospective lawyers harbor unrealistic expectations about their chosen profession. Reich (1976) found that many pre-law students wished to be seen as competent, socially ascendant, and in control, but that inwardly they felt awkward, anxious, cautious, and unsure. He suggested that they may have chosen law as a career because it allows them to hide behind a professional mask of competence, leadership, and dominance; they don’t have to expose more tender feelings of discomfort and social awkwardness. In other words, lawyers can interact with clients, other lawyers, and judges, at a comfortable professional distance and according to professionally defined “roles” with clear expectations and obligations, often imposed by the lawyer’s code of ethics.
For some, this might reduce their anxiety. However, it can also be isolating, lonely, and discouraging—and ultimately lead to depression. As a result, lawyers often end up feeling alone even as they are surrounded by clients, assistants, other lawyers, paralegals, and law office personnel. The very psychological dynamic that may have in part driven them to choose the law as a career may ultimately contribute to debilitating depression necessitating treatment and behavioral change.
The Perfect Is The Enemy Of The Good
Another cause of depression is perfectionism. In Stress Management for Lawyers, Dr. Amiram Elwork notes that perfectionism is adaptive and even rewarded in both law school and the practice of law; however, it can lead to a demoralizing way of thinking—“If I don’t do it perfectly, I’m no good; it’s no use; I should just give up,” or “I have to do it perfectly and I can’t quit until it’s perfect.” Beliefs like this can result in workaholism, isolation, and depression.
Perfectionism can also lead to an overdeveloped sense of control and responsibility so that individuals believe they are responsible for situations over which they actually do not have complete control. If things do not turn out well, these individuals often blame themselves: they didn’t work hard enough or they weren’t sufficiently prepared or vigilant. They then either “beat themselves up” or resolve to “work harder” next time, not acknowledging that some things are out of their control. This erroneous belief causes a great deal of angst, which is then expressed either as depression or irritability and anger, which are really two sides of the same coin. Psychologists claim that depression is “anger turned inwards.” Perhaps the anger and irritability, emotions so often seen in private law firms, is really depression turned outwards.
You Can Change The Way You Think
Fortunately, solutions exist. To ward off depression, you can: (1) focus on your intrinsic values and what you find intrinsically rewarding about your work and integrate these values and rewards into your day-to-day work, keeping in mind that you can change your job only if necessary; (2) challenge yourself to drop your “mask” by increasing your emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills so you are more comfortable and more fully emotionally present in interpersonal situations; and (3) undergo cognitive restructuring to get rid of perfectionistic thoughts and behaviors that set you up for anger and depression.
Begin identifying your intrinsic rewards and incorporating them into your daily life right away. The second and third changes may be harder to accomplish alone; you may need help from peers or professionals. Any changes you can make will be worth it, as no profession is as stimulating and challenging as the law, and a career in the law that is satisfying is, indeed, the “brass ring.”
