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World J Psychiatry. Apr 19, 2023; 13(4): 131-140
Published online Apr 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i4.131
Underrecognition and un-dertreatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders in physicians: Determinants, challenges, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Charles Lung-Cheng Huang
Charles Lung-Cheng Huang, Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan 710, Taiwan
Charles Lung-Cheng Huang, Department of Medicinal and Applied Chemistry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Author contributions: Huang CLC designed the research study, performed the research, wrote the manuscript, and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Charles Lung-Cheng Huang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Chief Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Chi Mei Medical Center, No. 901 Zhonghua Road, Yongkang Dist, Tainan 710, Taiwan. da002p1@mail.chimei.org.tw
Received: December 18, 2022
Peer-review started: December 18, 2022
First decision: February 20, 2023
Revised: March 12, 2023
Accepted: April 7, 2023
Article in press: April 7, 2023
Published online: April 19, 2023
Processing time: 121 Days and 1.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Physicians are experiencing unprecedented stress and distress. They face major risks of distress and burnout, which can subsequently cause stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Nevertheless, many of these vulnerable healthcare professionals do not seek medical help. There is a clear need for further research to evaluate the determinants of underrecognition and un-dertreatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders, how to enhance early detection and management of these mental health problems, and how to eliminate obstacles to the use of mental health services in this population.